{"id":199893,"date":"2024-04-24T23:20:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T22:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=199893"},"modified":"2024-04-24T23:35:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T22:35:08","slug":"spotifys-daniel-ek-cashes-out-118-8-million-in-shares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/spotifys-daniel-ek-cashes-out-118-8-million-in-shares\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid controversy over Spotify’s songwriter payments, Daniel Ek cashes out $118.8 million in company shares"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been some week for Daniel Ek.<\/p>\n

Yesterday (April 23), Spotify’s share price jumped up by over 11%<\/strong><\/span> following the company’s Q1 results announcement, in which it confirmed<\/a> its biggest-ever quarterly operating profit.<\/p>\n

That share price rise gave Spotify<\/strong> a market cap of approximately USD $60 billion<\/strong> at close of trading on the NYSE yesterday, enough to exceed the market cap value of music’s biggest rightsholder, Universal Music Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(UMG’s market cap on the Amsterdam Euronext\u00a0stood at approximately USD $53.5 billion<\/strong> at close of yesterday, according to YCharts<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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Spotify’s share price on the NYSE has settled back down today (April 24), falling by around 7%<\/strong><\/span> at the close of trading… but not before Spotify CEO Ek<\/strong> cashed in a small mountain of shares.<\/p>\n

According to a filing with the SEC spotted by MBW, Daniel Ek<\/strong> sold 400,000<\/strong> share units in Spotify earlier today, with an aggregate market value of USD $118.8 million<\/strong>. JP Morgan acted as broker for Ek’s share sale.<\/p>\n

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An SEC filing shows Ek cashed out $118.8 million in shares today (April 24)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The move is the fourth time in the past 12 months that Ek<\/strong> has cashed in some of his Spotify<\/strong> stock:<\/p>\n