Daniel Ek has had a turbulent start to the year. The co-founder and CEO of Spotify, who tried to buy Arsenal Football Club from the Kroenke family three years ago, laid off 1500 employees in December, creating a 'significant challenge' for the company.

Speaking to investors in an earnings calls following the first quarter of 2024, he admitted: "Although there's no question that it was the right strategic decision, it did disrupt our day-to-day operations more than we anticipated. It took us some time to find our footing, but more than four months into this transition, I think we're back on track."

Meanwhile, in an official statement on the Spotify website, Ek said: "We’ve talked about 2024 as the year of monetisation and we’re delivering on that ambition. Now as we’ve shifted to focus on strong revenue growth and margin expansion, we see a clear opportunity to ensure we are also continuing to grow the top of our funnel.

"I feel good about the changes we are implementing and remain very confident in our ability to reach the ambitious plans we’ve outlined."

Then, this month, it was revealed that Ek's risk appeared to pay off with the music streaming service making a quarterly profit of $210million (£168.4m). During the same period this time last year, Spotify suffered a $241m loss (£193.3m).

The company, which was founded in 2006, has enjoyed a fruitful start to 2024. As a result, Ek's net worth remains at around $4.4bn, which is a whopping $2bn rise on his estaimated fortune of $2.3bn last year according to Forbes.

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Even if Ek had bought Arsenal from Stan Kroenke three years ago it remains to be seen whether or not this would have directly impacted the Gunners. Nevertheless, speaking to Sky Sports in May 2021, Thierry Henry vouched for the Swede's takeover at the Emirates Stadium.

"I know a lot of people wanted to hear about [the takeover]. It is true. Daniel is an Arsenal fan, he didn't say it for any publicity. He is an Arsenal fan for a very long time.

"He already - I'll give you something - reached out [to the Kroenkes] and already said himself that he had collected the funds to make sure that he can put in a good bid. They now need to listen.

"A lot of people have been screaming that they want the owner out. We are trying to offer a solution involving the fans and getting the DNA of the club back. There needs to be a discussion, but he reached out."

The Arsenal legend added: "I think it is going to be long and not easy - if it does ever happen. One thing that I want to reiterate is that Daniel will not move away, he will be there waiting to see if they want to sell.

"That is going to take a very long time, we know what we want to do, but first and foremost we need to make sure that we can take over, if they are listening."