Career
As a student at the Särlaskolan primary school in Borås, Lorentzon told classmates that he wanted to sell one matchbox to every Chinese person and become a billionaire.[7] For high school he attended the technical department of Sven Eriksonsgymnasiet, where he liked to go to parties but always put education first: if there was a party before a test he would lie that he was sick and would have to stay home.[2]
In 1990, Lorentzon began his studies at the Chalmers University of Technology where he studied industrial economics and later finished with a Master of Science and engineering degree.[8] He attended economics courses at the Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law. Lorentzon also studied economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and took courses in rhetoric and argumentation at Stockholm University.[8]
In 1995, Lorentzon started an internship at the Swedish telephone incumbent, Telia.[2] He moved to San Francisco and worked in the AltaVista office there. In Silicon Valley he met skilled web entrepreneurs and found a job at an investment company called Cell Ventures, where he met Felix Hagnö, the son of the owners of a Swedish clothing line called Joy.[2] In September 1999, Lorentzon and Hagnö founded Netstrategy, which would later become the leading European marketplace Tradedoubler.[9] The company soon became commercially profitable and socially acclaimed; in 2001, it won the Swedish Guldmusen prize for "IT-rookie of the Year",[10][11] the Swedish Trade Council in the United Kingdom prize "Achievement Award" in 2002 for Swedish companies that have been the most successful in the UK over the past year,[12] and the Swedish "Export Hermes" prize in 2004 for the best Swedish exporting company.[13] Lorentzon then moved to Germany. Web sales peaked and in 2005 he sold his Tradedoubler option for US$70 million.[7] Lorentzon then moved back to Sweden after ten years abroad. In March 2006 Tradedoubler bought advertising service Advertigo, created by Daniel Ek. Ek and Lorentzon quickly became friends, finding that they had common experiences of depression because of unexpected wealth and a lack of purpose.
From April 2013 to March 2018, Lorentzon was a member of the board of directors at Telia, and owned 230,000 shares.[14]
Spotify
In April 2006, Ek and Lorentzon decided to start a new company. Lorentzon left the board of Tradedoubler and gave one million euros to Ek. In June 2006 Spotify was registered. Spotify was started as a music streaming service earning its profits from online advertising, a business that they both knew very well.[15]
Lorentzon spent his own money on developers' salaries, offices, and renting music licenses. They tried to attract investor money, but Lorentzon was not satisfied with the terms with which they were offered to cooperate. Because of these unplanned expenses, Lorentzon's share in Spotify turned out to be the largest. His option was estimated at more than US$4 billion;[16] he holds 43.3% voting rights[17] and owns 12.7% shares.[18] Hagnö decided to join in his former colleague's venture, and owns 6.6% of the shares worth US$1.5 billion.
