Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Becomes Chairman as Co-Founder Steps Down read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1266-spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-becomes-chairman-as-co-founder-steps-down

Martin Lorentzon, a co-founder of Spotify, is stepping down from his role as chairman. Chief executive Daniel Ek taking his place as Chairman for  the world’s largest music streaming company.

“I look forward to another 10 years at Spotify as vice chairman,” Lorentzon said.

The exiting exec posted to Twitter (in Swedish) early this morning saying he would have a "vice chairman" role, and plans to spend the next ten years side-by-side with his co-founder. 

Jag ser fram emot ytterligare 10 år med Spotify som vice ordförande och promenader och prat varje dag med @eldsjal ?????

— Martin Lorentzon (@MartinLorentzon) October 13, 2016

The company, valued at $8.5bn in a recent funding round, made a net loss of €173m last year, despite revenues surging to €1.95bn, as royalty and distribution fees also jumped to €1.63bn.

According to Bloomberg, Spotify last month surpassed 20 million paying customers, and has 100 million monthly users including its free, ad-supported product. It generated more than $2 billion in revenue last year but remains unprofitable.

Read: Spotify Launches Music-Streaming Service in Japan 

Meanwhile, Spotify faces intense competition from Apple, Amazon and Pandora Media.  The company has been unable to make a profit for 10 years, mainly because of its expensive licensing deals.