Daniel Ek

Spotify’s “year of monetization” hasn’t been great for customer wallets, but it’s been very good for the company’s stock—and CEO Daniel Ek’s personal wealth. The streaming giant’s stock price has more than doubled this year through late October—pushing the company’s market cap to $77 billion—on the back of strong revenue gains and record profits. Ek’s company has accomplished that thanks to a shrewd cocktail of cost-cutting and subscriber growth, even as it raised prices for the second time in a year. Spotify’s next pursuit? Video creators, with the company offering seven-figure deals to increase user engagement and boost what will be a $2 billion advertising business by the end of the year.