Daniel Ek has no plans to sell off Spotify to a larger tech company. “Not going to sell, no,” Ek said at a music and technology conference in Stockholm. He cautioned that selling off European startups to U.S. tech enterprises was holding back the EU tech industry. “My biggest advice for entrepreneurs is don’t ever sell.”
The statement resulted from a Q&A session with reporters, and occurs in the context of competitor Pandora, which has navigated through rumors of an acquisition. Recently, an activist shareholder penned an open letter urging Pandora to investigate such a sale.
Spotify has had a busy month, with several developments that could impact the bottom line in the long run. The company introduced a Sponsored Playlist resource for advertisers and revised its family plan pricing. Most notably, Spotify’s 2015 financial results were released in late May. Although it continues to post losses, revenue spiked up 80% over the prior year. The company also announced that it surpassed 30 million paying subscribers in March.