Sweden may be the envy of other Europeans, right behind Switzerland, but Spotify doesn't exactly feel the same way. In a new letter posted on Medium, co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon threaten to leave Sweden and take thousands of jobs with it unless the country changes its policies on house, taxation and education.
"We love Sweden and believe that this is basically the best environment for us. But at the same time, we cannot magically remove the political obstacles," they wrote. "Thousands of Spotify jobs could go to the U.S. instead of Sweden."
They claim various policies are stymying growth for startups and the tech industry in Sweden as a place for doing business.
Their first concern is with housing. It can be very difficult for individuals who do not want to buy to find a place in Stockholm, which is an issue as the founders claim for attracting talent from outside of the country and may just want to rent. According to CNNMoney, some people have waiting as long as a decade to get a place to rent.
The letter claims that education in Sweden does not focus enough on technology, which has created a shortage of programmers.
Their final major complaint is with the taxation and regulations on stock options that are given to employees. They want looser rules to grant more generous stock options for employees and to lower the rates, even below proposed changes so they are comparable to that of Germany and the United States so attracting talent is easier.
Stockholm has prided itself as being a hub for innovation and tech startups with other companies like SoundCloud, Skype, Mojang, Klarna and King getting their start there, while global behemoths like H&M and Ikea put Sweden on the map as an economic force in the 1980s. As a result this letter has been met with some mixed reactions by lawmakers who say they are trying to liberalize, but point to growth in the tech sector over the past decade.
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