, Columnist
Spotify's Ek Is Special, But Not Mark Zuckerberg Special
Super-voting rights are par for the course in California, but the Swedish music streamer is a riskier bet.
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The founders of Spotify AB think they're special. When the music streaming company starts selling shares publicly this year, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon plan to maintain control by holding stock with super-voting powers, according to my Bloomberg News colleague Lucas Shaw.
So far, so tech. That's how the creators of Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc. and others have kept their grip on the tech behemoths. But even though Spotify is a fantastic brand with more than 70 million paying users, Ek and Lorentzon aren't quite in the same league as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. While the Swedish company is the world's leading music streamer, its dominance is far from assured.