Spotify head Daniel Ek during his company’s ‘Now Playing’ event in 2024. Photo Credit: Presley Ann/Spotify
What better way to begin 2025 than with a Spotify stock (NYSE: SPOT) windfall? CEO Daniel Ek is picking up where he left off in 2024 by moving millions more in shares.
Like with the Spotify head’s mentioned SPOT sales last year – which we covered alongside huge trades from fellow co-founder Martin Lorentzon and other insiders – these new transactions came to light in SEC regulatory filings.
Diving directly into the relevant disclosures, Ek reported offloading 60,000 shares on the 8th for a cool $27.84 million. Then, the 41-year-old yesterday parted with the same number of shares, this time for $29.25 million.
(When the market closed today, Spotify stock was worth $501.50 per share – higher than its price at the time of Ek’s two newest sales, but a bit beneath a 52-week and all-time high of almost $511 per share.)
All told, factoring solely for Ek’s SPOT sales in 2024 and the present month, that comes out to a decidedly healthy $433.11 million windfall.
Daniel Ek Spotify Stock Sales – 2024 and Early 2025
January 22nd, 2025 – $29,250,600
January 8th, 2025 – $27,835,800
December 23rd, 2024 – $27,720,000
December 11th – $28,294,800
December 4th – $36,999,000
November 26th – $36,103,500
November 20th – $34,787,250
November 15th – $35,812,500
April 24th – $118,800,000
February 7th – $57,505,000
Total: $433,108,450
Logic suggests that Ek’s moves (along with the previously noted sales from Lorentzon) aren’t exactly inspiring investor confidence. But as SPOT is continuing to fly high, the market evidently isn’t too bothered by the selloff.
As to the motivation behind the Spotify stock divestments, material considerations come to mind in the case of Ek, who doesn’t currently draw a salary at the helm of the diversifying streaming platform.
Last year, the Stockholm native dropped north of $31 million on a mansion in Spain, per one report. Of course, staffing, maintaining, and upgrading this and other massive residences isn’t free – though incidentally, Spotify has historically coughed up for Ek’s “home security services,” to the tune of around $200,000 in prior years.
Then there are Ek’s professional interests outside the music space. 2020 saw the Prima Materia founder commit to investing over $1 billion in European startups by 2030. One of Ek’s backed companies, AI defense business Helsing, disclosed a $469 million Series C in July 2024.
And today, Ek-founded “preventative healthcare technology company” Neko Health revealed a $260 million Series B led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Neko has made its core body-scan service available in Stockholm and London, higher-ups noted, with plans to expand into different cities yet “in the coming months.”