If you search “Who Owns Spotify?”, the obvious answer might seem to be Daniel Ek, Tencent, or one of the major record labels. None of those answers tells the whole story.
Spotify Technology S.A. is a publicly traded company incorporated in Luxembourg, with its ordinary shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange under SPOT. Its shares are held by founders, institutional investors, strategic shareholders, and public investors.
The more interesting part is control. Spotify has a special voting structure that gives its founders far more voting influence than their ordinary-share ownership alone would suggest.
The latest annual filing available for the year ended December 31, 2025 shows Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon together controlled 69.3% of Spotify’s combined voting power at that date.
So, who actually owns Spotify, who controls it, and where do Tencent and the major record labels fit in? Here is the distinction that makes the answer clear.
AI Overview: Who owns Spotify?
Spotify is a publicly traded company rather than a subsidiary of Apple, Google, Amazon, Sony, Universal, or another parent company. Spotify Technology S.A. is incorporated in Luxembourg and trades on the NYSE under SPOT.
Its economic ownership is spread among founders and other shareholders, but voting control is concentrated. As of December 31, 2025, co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon controlled 28.8% and 40.5% of combined voting power respectively, or 69.3% together.
That distinction matters because Spotify’s beneficiary certificates provide voting rights without economic rights, allowing founder voting influence to exceed their ordinary-share ownership.
Key Takeaways
- Spotify Technology S.A. is the publicly traded parent company behind Spotify.
- Spotify is incorporated and domiciled in Luxembourg and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as SPOT.
- Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon are Spotify’s co-founders and remain its most influential voting shareholders.
- At December 31, 2025, Ek controlled 28.8% and Lorentzon 40.5% of combined voting power.
- Together, the founders controlled 69.3% of voting power, not 69.3% of Spotify’s economic value.
- Tencent owns a significant minority shareholding, but it is not Spotify’s parent company. The 2025 filing lists Tencent with 16,631,969 ordinary shares, or 8.1%.
- Spotify’s current operating leadership is separate from its ownership: Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström are co-CEOs, while Daniel Ek is executive chairman.
Featured Snippet: Who owns Spotify right now?
Spotify is owned by its public shareholders, including founders, institutional investors, strategic investors, and other shareholders. However, voting control is concentrated with co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Spotify’s 2025 annual filing states that Ek controlled 28.8% and Lorentzon 40.5% of combined voting power at December 31, 2025, giving them 69.3% together.
Who Owns Spotify?
There is no single company that owns all of Spotify.
The legal parent is Spotify Technology S.A., a public limited company incorporated and domiciled in Luxembourg. Its ordinary shares trade publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SPOT.
That means anyone who buys Spotify’s publicly traded ordinary shares can have an economic interest in the company. The shareholder base includes founders, investment firms, strategic investors and other public shareholders.
But economic ownership is only half the answer.
Spotify has ordinary shares and beneficiary certificates. The company states that beneficiary certificates carry no economic rights but provide additional voting rights.
That structure is why the people with the most influence over shareholder votes are not necessarily the people with the largest ordinary-share positions.
Daniel Ek’s ownership and voting power
Daniel Ek co-founded Spotify in 2006 and remains one of its most important shareholders and governance figures.
The latest annual filing available for the year ended December 31, 2025 lists Ek with 28,625,267 ordinary shares, representing 13.9% of ordinary shares, plus 119,932,980 beneficiary certificates. His combined voting power was 28.8%.
Ek is no longer Spotify’s CEO. Spotify identifies him as Founder & Executive Chairman, with responsibility for long-term strategy and recommending major strategic actions to the board.
Martin Lorentzon’s ownership and voting power
Martin Lorentzon is Spotify’s other co-founder and a member of its board of directors.
Spotify’s 2025 annual filing lists Lorentzon with 19,050,367 ordinary shares, or 9.3% of ordinary shares, alongside 190 million beneficiary certificates. His combined voting power was 40.5%.
That makes Lorentzon the larger of the two founder voting holders based on the latest annual disclosure.
Ek and Lorentzon together
This is the number that explains Spotify’s unusual ownership structure.
At December 31, 2025:
| Shareholder | Ordinary shares | Combined voting power |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Ek | 28,625,267 | 28.8% |
| Martin Lorentzon | 19,050,367 | 40.5% |
| Tencent | 16,631,969 | No beneficiary certificates listed |
| Ek + Lorentzon | 47,675,634 | 69.3% |
The 69.3% figure is voting power, not economic ownership. That distinction is essential when discussing who owns Spotify.
Why Spotify’s Voting Structure Changes the Answer
A normal ownership question assumes that owning more shares means having more control.
Spotify is more complicated.
Its beneficiary certificates do not provide economic rights, but each certificate carries a vote. The 2025 filing says Spotify had 205,832,527 ordinary shares and 309,932,980 beneficiary certificates outstanding at December 31, 2025.
This gives the founders an unusually large voting position.
For example, Ek held 13.9% of the ordinary shares but had 28.8% of combined voting power. Lorentzon held 9.3% of ordinary shares but had 40.5% of voting power.
So if you see a website saying that someone “owns X% of Spotify,” check what that percentage actually represents.
It could mean ordinary shares, beneficial ownership, economic exposure, or voting power. Those figures are not interchangeable.
Does Tencent Own Spotify?
No. Tencent is a Spotify shareholder, not Spotify’s parent company.
Spotify’s 2025 annual filing lists Tencent with 16,631,969 ordinary shares, equal to 8.1% of the ordinary shares shown in that filing’s ownership table.
Tencent therefore has a meaningful economic interest in Spotify, but that does not make Tencent the company that owns or controls Spotify.
This is one of the easiest points to get wrong when answering Who Owns Spotify?
A substantial minority investment is not the same thing as corporate ownership of the entire company.
Do Sony, Universal, or Warner Own Spotify?
No major record label is Spotify’s parent company.
Record companies have important commercial relationships with Spotify because Spotify needs licenses to distribute music. That relationship can make the companies look closely connected, but licensing music is not the same as owning the streaming platform.
The distinction becomes even clearer when you look at Spotify’s corporate structure. Spotify Technology S.A. is the listed company, and its shares trade publicly under SPOT.
Some music companies have also held Spotify shares at different points in the company’s history. A minority investment, however, should not be described as ownership of Spotify itself.
Is Spotify Owned by Apple or Google?
No.
Spotify is a separate publicly traded company. Its ordinary shares trade on the NYSE, while Apple Music and YouTube Music operate within their respective corporate groups. Spotify’s 2025 annual report identifies Spotify Technology S.A. as the public parent company and lists SPOT as its NYSE trading symbol.
That means Apple does not own Spotify, and Google does not own Spotify.
The same logic applies to Amazon. Amazon Music is part of Amazon, whereas Spotify is its own publicly traded corporate group.
Who Runs Spotify Now?
Ownership and management are two different questions.
Daniel Ek previously served as Spotify’s CEO, but Spotify’s current governance materials identify him as Founder & Executive Chairman. His role includes helping formulate the company’s long-term strategy and recommending major strategic actions to the board.
Spotify now operates with Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström as co-CEOs. Both appeared in that role during Spotify’s 2026 Investor Day and in the company’s second-quarter earnings announcement.
That creates an important distinction:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who founded Spotify? | Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon |
| Who has the largest founder voting block? | Martin Lorentzon |
| Who has major founder voting influence? | Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek |
| Who is executive chairman? | Daniel Ek |
| Who are the co-CEOs? | Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström |
| Is Spotify publicly traded? | Yes |
| Where does it trade? | NYSE |
| Ticker | SPOT |
| Is Tencent the parent company? | No |
| Is Apple the owner? | No |
How Big Is Spotify Today?
The company’s current scale helps explain why its ownership structure attracts so much attention.
In its Q2 2026 earnings report, Spotify said Premium subscribers reached 300 million, up 9% year over year. Monthly active users reached 777 million, up 12%.
Spotify also reported €4.8 billion in total revenue, a 33.4% gross margin, and €655 million in operating income for the quarter.
Those figures describe the company’s business performance, not its ownership. Still, they provide useful context: the company whose voting structure is concentrated among its founders is now operating at enormous global scale.
Earlier in 2026, Spotify’s Q1 results had already passed 760 million monthly active users.
What Happened to Spotify’s Ownership After It Went Public?
Spotify became publicly traded through a direct listing in 2018, rather than a traditional underwritten IPO.
Going public did not eliminate founder control.
Instead, Spotify maintained a voting structure that allowed its founders to retain substantially greater voting influence than their ordinary-share holdings alone would provide.
The structure has changed over time, however. That is why older articles can show different percentages from the latest annual filing.
For example, Spotify’s 2024 filing showed Ek with 29.1% and Lorentzon with 41.6% of combined voting power.
The 2025 filing later reported 28.8% for Ek and 40.5% for Lorentzon. Together, that was 69.3%, down from the 70.7% combined figure reported for the end of 2024.
That change illustrates why ownership articles should always attach a date to their percentages.
Spotify Ownership vs. Spotify Control
If you want the cleanest way to understand Spotify, separate these two ideas.
Economic ownership refers to the financial interest represented by shares. Shareholders can benefit when the value of their investment rises and bear the economic consequences when it falls.
Voting control refers to the ability to influence shareholder decisions through voting rights.
Spotify’s structure means those two measurements can produce very different percentages.
That is why saying “Daniel Ek owns 28.8% of Spotify” would be misleading if you mean ordinary economic ownership. The 28.8% figure in the latest annual filing represents combined voting power, while his ordinary-share percentage was 13.9%.
The same issue applies to Lorentzon.
His ordinary-share percentage was 9.3%, but his combined voting power was 40.5%.
A Simple Way to Read Spotify’s Ownership Data
If you come across a new Spotify shareholder figure, use this three-step check.
1. Check the date
Ownership percentages change when investors buy, sell, transfer, or otherwise change their positions.
A figure from 2024 should not automatically be presented as the current figure in 2026.
2. Check what the percentage measures
Look for terms such as:
- Ordinary shares
- Beneficial ownership
- Voting power
- Beneficiary certificates
- Economic interest
These terms describe different things.
3. Check the original filing
For the most authoritative ownership information, start with Spotify’s SEC filings rather than relying solely on a market-data website.
The company’s 2025 Form 20-F provides the ownership figures, share counts, voting structure and corporate details directly.
Three Things Other Spotify Ownership Articles Often Get Wrong
Confusing voting power with ownership
This is the biggest mistake.
The founders’ combined 69.3% figure is voting power, not a statement that they own 69.3% of Spotify’s economic value.
Treating Tencent as Spotify’s owner
Tencent is a significant shareholder, but the 2025 filing does not identify it as Spotify’s parent company. It held 8.1% of ordinary shares in the filing’s ownership table.
Treating the CEO as the owner
Daniel Ek’s move from CEO to executive chairman did not transfer ownership of Spotify to another executive.
Management and ownership are separate. Spotify’s current co-CEOs operate the business, while shareholders and voting-right holders determine corporate governance through the company’s established structure.
Practical Application: How to Check Who Owns Spotify Yourself
Ownership information can become outdated quickly, so you do not have to rely on an old article.
Start with Spotify’s latest annual filing. Look for the Major Shareholders section and check the reporting date.
Next, separate ordinary-share ownership from voting power. If a percentage comes from beneficiary certificates, it should not be described as ordinary economic ownership.
Finally, check more recent SEC filings for changes after the annual-report date. This approach gives you a much better answer than simply searching for the largest shareholder.
For current business performance, Spotify’s own earnings releases are also useful. Its August 4, 2026 Q2 release, for example, provides the latest reported subscriber, user, revenue, margin and operating-income figures.
What Spotify’s Ownership Structure Means for Investors
Spotify’s structure gives its founders substantial influence over shareholder voting.
That can provide continuity because the founders retain a strong voice even though the company is publicly traded. At the same time, it means ordinary shareholders cannot assume that owning a large number of publicly traded shares automatically gives them proportional control over corporate decisions.
The structure therefore matters if your question is not simply “Who owns Spotify?” but “Who can influence what Spotify does?”
The latest annual filing provides the clearest answer: the founders remain the dominant voting force, while the company’s economic ownership is distributed across a broader shareholder base.
Is Spotify Likely to Be Sold?
There is no confirmed sale of Spotify established by the sources used here.
Claims that Apple, Google, Amazon, a record label, Tencent, or another company is about to acquire Spotify should therefore be treated cautiously unless they are backed by an official announcement, regulatory filing, formal bid, or other reliable evidence.
A future change in ownership is possible in the ordinary sense that shareholders can change their positions and corporate structures can change. But that is different from saying that a sale is currently planned.
The available evidence does not establish a pending takeover.
Who Owns Spotify? Final Answer
So, who owns Spotify?
The most accurate answer is that Spotify is a publicly traded company owned economically by its shareholders, rather than by one parent corporation. Spotify Technology S.A. is incorporated in Luxembourg and its ordinary shares trade on the NYSE under SPOT.
But if you are asking who has the most voting control, the answer is Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. At December 31, 2025, Spotify reported 28.8% of combined voting power for Ek and 40.5% for Lorentzon, giving the two founders 69.3% together.
That is the detail that separates Spotify from a straightforward public-company ownership story. You cannot understand its control structure by looking only at ordinary-share percentages.
And the next time you see a headline claiming that someone “owns Spotify,” check whether it means shares, economic ownership, or voting power. That small distinction changes the answer.
FAQ: Who Owns Spotify?
Who Is the Majority Owner of Spotify?
Spotify does not have a single majority owner of its ordinary shares. However, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon together controlled 69.3% of Spotify’s combined voting power as of December 31, 2025.
That 69.3% figure represents voting control, not economic ownership. Spotify’s beneficiary certificates give additional voting rights without corresponding economic rights.
Does Daniel Ek Still Own Spotify?
Yes. Daniel Ek remains a Spotify shareholder and co-founder, but he does not own the entire company.
Spotify’s 2025 annual filing lists Ek with 28,625,267 ordinary shares and 28.8% of combined voting power as of December 31, 2025. He is now Spotify’s executive chairman, rather than CEO.
Does Martin Lorentzon Own Spotify?
Martin Lorentzon is also a co-founder and major voting shareholder, but he does not own 100% of Spotify.
Spotify’s 2025 annual filing lists Lorentzon with 19,050,367 ordinary shares and 40.5% of combined voting power. His voting influence is much higher than his 9.3% ordinary-share stake because of Spotify’s special voting structure.
Is Spotify Owned by Tencent?
No. Tencent is a significant Spotify shareholder, but it is not Spotify’s parent company. Spotify’s 2025 filing lists Tencent with 16,631,969 ordinary shares, equal to 8.1% of ordinary shares in that ownership table. Therefore, Tencent is better described as a significant strategic shareholder, not Spotify’s owner.
Is Spotify Owned by Apple or Google?
No. Spotify Technology S.A. is a separate publicly traded company whose ordinary shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under SPOT. Apple and Google operate competing music services, but neither company owns Spotify.
Who Is the Current CEO of Spotify?
Spotify currently has two co-CEOs: Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström. Daniel Ek served as CEO through December 31, 2025. He became Spotify’s executive chairman in 2026.
Is Spotify a Swedish or Luxembourg Company?
Spotify has Swedish roots, but its legal parent is Spotify Technology S.A., incorporated and domiciled in Luxembourg.
The company was founded by Swedish entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Its Swedish origins and Luxembourg corporate registration are therefore separate parts of its identity.
How Much of Spotify Do Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon Control?
As of December 31, 2025, Ek controlled 28.8%, and Lorentzon controlled 40.5% of Spotify’s combined voting power. Together, that equals 69.3% of voting power. It does not mean they economically own 69.3% of Spotify.
How Big Is Spotify Now?
Spotify reported 777 million monthly active users and 300 million Premium subscribers in Q2 2026.
For the same quarter, Spotify reported €4.8 billion in revenue, a 33.4% gross margin, and €655 million in operating income. These figures were reported on August 4, 2026 and describe Spotify’s business performance, not its ownership.
