What makes Alexander Ljung a Global Shaker?
SoundCloud founder and former CEO Alexander Ljung went from a geeky, music-obsessed teenager to the high-flying business leader at one of Europe’s most-recognised startups.
Conceived in Sweden, Soundcloud eventually moved to Berlin after the first few years.
The audio sharing platform launched the careers of many but was plagued by piracy, which led to companies like Sony pulling its records from the platform. SoundCloud is now reportedly in talks with Universal Music to secure a deal that would lead it to host exclusive content from the studio on its platform.
Warner Music made a deal with SoundCloud in November 2015, taking a 5% stake in the business. A period of turbulence around the company came to a head in 2017, when Soundcloud laid off 40% of its staff to cut costs — and when former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor replaced Ljung as CEO. The company was saved from the brink of bankruptcy by raising just under $169m in Series F funding that same year.
Ljung remains closely connnected to the company as Chairman.
Tags: music, SwedenLast updated: August 27, 2019
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