Spotify Top Boss Daniel Ek Transitions To Chairman Role

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Spotify’s Ek moves to chairman role after two decades as CEO. (0:15) Kalshi’s record weekend unsettles DraftKings, FanDuel (0:52) Consumer confidence slides. (2:45)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:

Our top story so far, Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) CEO Daniel Ek is ceding his leadership role in the company, transitioning to executive chairman after nearly two decades at the helm.

Ek has held the top job since the company was founded in April 2006 alongside Swedish entrepreneur Martin Lorentzon.

The company has picked tech chief Gustav Söderström and business chief Alex Norström as new co-CEOs, reporting to Ek. The two will also serve on the company’s board of directors after shareholder approval.

The streaming company said Ek’s role will more closely reflect a European chairman setup, where he will determine capital allocation, map the long-term future of Spotify and continue to provide support and guidance to the senior team.

Among active stocks, DraftKings (DKNG) and FanDuel owner Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) are slumping after prediction platform Kalshi set a new trading record on Saturday of over $260 million before topping that on Sunday with a tally of over $275 million. The prior Kalski trading platform record was $245 million on Election Day 2024.

There’s no question that Kalshi is a football platform this time of year, as 98% of its trading volume came on college and pro football games, despite the Ryder Cup taking place, along with must-win baseball games and plenty of political drama.

The Sunday Night NFL football overtime game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys became the top-traded game of all time on Kalshi, with $57.2 million in trading volume.

A rough estimate is that Kalshi is pulling away between 5% and 10% from the sports betting sector. Of course, the platform has a big advantage in that it is legal in states like California and Texas, where sports betting has not been approved.

In addition, CoreWeave (CRWV) is popping amid a new $14.2 billion deal with Meta Platforms (META) for artificial intelligence computing power.

And EchoStar (SATS) is up after Bloomberg reported that Verizon (VZ) is in talks to acquire some of its wireless spectrum portfolio.

In other news of note, Carriage talks between YouTube TV (GOOG) (GOOGL) and NBCUniversal (CMCSA) have stalled over the rates the Google-owned platform will pay to distribute shows of the network.

Reuters reports that popular NBC shows, including “Sunday Night Football” and “America’s Got Talent,” may disappear from YouTube TV as soon as today if the two sides fail to agree on a new distribution deal.

Analysts say losing carriage on YouTube TV could cut affiliate revenue and shrink subscriber bases for traditional media companies, with little assurance that viewers will migrate to their standalone streaming apps.

And Wendy’s (WEN) is launching new chicken tenders in a national campaign – called, of course, “Tendys.”

The chain is looking to compete directly with similar offerings from rivals like McDonald’s (MCD). Wendy’s said the chicken tenders are now a permanent core menu addition, marking an expansion of Wendy’s chicken lineup.

And on the economic front, the Conference Board’s September Consumer Confidence Index slid to 94.2 in September from 97.8 in August (revised from 97.4). That was worse than the 96 consensus.

The Present Situation Index retreated 7 points over the month to 125.4. The expectations index decreased by 1.3 points to 73.4 in September, staying below the 80 threshold that typically signals a recession ahead.

Pantheon Macro economist Oliver Allen says the share of households “saying jobs are hard to get held steady at 19.1% in September, but the share saying they are plentiful dropped to 26.9%, from 30.2% in August.”

“The resulting net balance — one of the best indicators of growth in private payrolls over the last two years — fell to just 7.8% –the lowest since February 2021,” he said.

Also on the labor front, the number of job openings in the U.S. rose to 7.227 million in August from 7.208 million in July, topping the 7.11 million consensus. The quits rate ticked down further, indicating workers are reluctant to give up their current jobs amid a low-hire, low-fire environment.

Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Slok has pushed back against expectations of a cooling U.S. labor market, arguing that economic momentum remains stronger than forecasts suggest.

Measures of trade and policy uncertainty have eased, consumer confidence about future business conditions is improving, and fewer households express concern about job losses. Corporate spending plans are picking up, while initial jobless claims remain near historically low levels.

Furthermore, Slok spotlighted high-frequency indicators: TSA data show robust air travel, attendance at Broadway shows and movies remains solid. Weekly reports also show firm retail sales, accelerating bank lending, declining bankruptcy filings and steady new business formation.

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