Spotify Names Christian Luiga New Finance Chief

Spotify named Christian Luiga on Thursday (April 4) to be its new chief financial officer to replace Paul Vogel, who stepped down from the CFO role at the end of March.

Luiga will be Spotify’s third CFO in five years, and he takes charge of financial planning and analysis amidst changes to how the streaming giant pays artists, layoffs impacting nearly 17% of staff last year and subscription price hikes aimed at improving profitability.

Spotify grew revenues last year by 16% to 3.67 billion euros ($4.05 billion) on a 15% increase (to 236 million) in premium subscribers. But it continues to routinely post operating losses as it struggles with the constraints of a business model dominated by high music licensing costs. 

The company had one profitable quarter last year, but posted an operating loss of 75 million euros ($82.7 million) in the fourth quarter.

Vogel, Spotify’s most recent CFO, was promoted from head of investor relations to the role of CFO in 2020 after the departure of Barry McCarthy, who took over Peloton as its CEO in 2022.

Based in Sweden and answering to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, Luiga will start the job during the late summer, according to a press release. Ben Kung, vice president of financial planning and analysis, will serve as interim finance chief until then.

Prior to joinging Spotify, Luiga was CFO and deputy chief executive officer of European defense and security company Saab AB, and before that, he was the CFO and acting CEO of the European telecommunications company, Telia.