Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon says he’ll depart Sweden ‘instantly’ if a wealth tax is launched (report)

Martin Lorentzon, who co-founded Spotify with Daniel Ek in 2006, says he would go away Sweden if the nation introduces a brand new tax on giant fortunes.

That’s in response to Bloomberg, which reported the Stockholm-based billionaire’s feedback on September 5.

Sweden votes in a common election on Sunday (September 13), with taxation of the nation’s wealthiest one of many marketing campaign’s stay points.

“Sure, completely,” Lorentzon mentioned in emailed feedback to Bloomberg when requested whether or not he would contemplate transferring. “I would like to remain, however such a tax would imply I’ve to go away instantly.”

In keeping with the report, Lorentzon known as on politicians to take a look at increased taxes on capital or dividends as a substitute.

“It advantages nobody if entrepreneurs and job creators need to promote components of their firms to pay tax,” mentioned Lorentzon.

“It will imply fewer firms, fewer improvements, much less funding in areas comparable to environmental and local weather know-how, fewer taxpayers and fewer shared sources for welfare.

“The tax is instantly counterproductive.”

“It will imply fewer firms, fewer improvements, much less funding in areas comparable to environmental and local weather know-how, fewer taxpayers and fewer shared sources for welfare.”

Martin Lorentzon, Spotify (by way of Bloomberg)

The feedback got here alongside an opinion piece Lorentzon wrote for Swedish newspaper Expressen, revealed the identical day, wherein he set out his assist for progressive taxation – however his opposition to an annual levy on wealth.

Lorentzon’s argument is that enormous fortunes are typically held as shares in firms quite than as money, which would go away founders promoting down their very own companies to settle a tax invoice.

He returned to the topic two days later in written feedback to Swedish enterprise every day Dagens Industri, reported by information company TT on September 7.

“As we speak, entrepreneurs and enterprise builders are coming right here as a result of we have now a singular local weather for funding, creativity and experience,” Lorentzon wrote, in feedback translated from Swedish.

“A wealth tax that’s being mentioned within the election marketing campaign would drive individuals and funding away from right here.”

Sweden’s Left Occasion is campaigning for a tax on billionaires, whereas the Inexperienced Occasion has put ahead a separate levy on the wealthiest.

Each sit contained in the four-party opposition bloc led by the Social Democrats, which is polling forward of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s three-party authorities and the Sweden Democrats, who assist it in parliament.

The scale of that lead is contested. In a ballot revealed on September 7, Novus put the opposition 2.4 factors clear, a niche the agency says sits inside its margin of error.

A ballot revealed the identical day by Ipsos for Swedish every day Dagens Nyheter had the opposition 7.8 factors forward.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index places Lorentzon’s fortune at greater than USD $11 billion.

A big portion of that fortune has been transferring out of Spotify inventory and into money for a while.

Lorentzon offered USD $665.9 million of Spotify shares throughout two transactions in Could 2025, taking his cash-outs throughout 2024 and 2025 previous USD $1.2 billion at that time, in response to MBW’s evaluation of SEC filings.

The bigger of these gross sales ran by way of Rosello Firm Ltd, a Cyprus-registered holding firm owned by Almatea, a Luxembourg-based agency whose sole shareholder is Lorentzon.

Daniel Ek formally handed over the chief government position at Spotify at first of this yr, taking the title of Govt Chairman as Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström grew to become co-CEOs.

In his memo to workers saying that transfer, Ek wrote that he wished to assist construct extra European “supercompanies” – a theme MBW examined on the time, alongside the argument amongst European enterprise leaders that the area is shedding floor to the US and China.

Lorentzon’s feedback concern his personal tax residency quite than Spotify’s company base.

Sweden abolished its personal, broader-based wealth tax as of January 1, 2007.Music Enterprise Worldwide