Daniel Ek: The Story Behind the Fortune
Daniel Ek co-founded Spotify in 2006 as a legal alternative to music piracy and grew it into the world's largest music-streaming service. He has also become a prominent backer of European technology startups.
Daniel Ek co-founded Spotify in 2006 as a legal alternative to music piracy and grew it into the world's largest music-streaming service. He has also become a prominent backer of European technology startups.
Daniel Ek built this fortune from the ground up — a self-made success in technology & music streaming.
He studied at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (dropped out) and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
A few of the highlights on the public record: Co-founded Spotify in 2006; Built the world's largest music-streaming service; An active investor in European tech.
The journey to get here is well documented. In 2006, started Spotify with Martin Lorentzon as a licensed alternative to music piracy. In 2008, launched Spotify to the public in Europe. In 2011, brought Spotify to the United States. In 2018, took Spotify public via an unconventional direct listing rather than a traditional IPO.
The fortune shows up across our lists, too: #4 on The Youngest Billionaires (Under 45) (out of 8 tracked).
Today, Daniel is worth an estimated $7.24B — #44 in the world on our real-time list, a figure that moves with SPOT's share price.