Analysis

May 5, 2023

Quiz: who said it — Lukas Matsson or Daniel Ek?

Can you tell Succession’s Swedish billionaire founder from his real-life equivalent? 


Éanna Kelly

1 min read

One of the key characters in the HBO drama Succession feels very familiar to Sifted: the Swedish tech billionaire Lukas Matsson.

The Nordic nation has always punched above its weight when it comes to tech — and that includes the number of tech billionaires it’s produced, including Skype’s Niklas Zennström, Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski (for a brief time in 2021) and Spotify’s Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek.

Succession’s fictitious tech mogul, played by Alexander Skarsgård, is a sinister Scandi. The founder of streaming company Gojo, he shares the same brashness as many of his real-life counterparts. He's been known to say things that are aggressive, egotistical, outlandish or potentially exaggerating reality.

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But do Matsson's utterances stretch the limits of belief? Or can certain Swedish founders match or even out-do him for brazen soundbites?

In our quiz you'll find 13 quotes. Your job: figure out if they belong to Spotify cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek or Succession’s Lukas Matsson.

Éanna Kelly

Éanna Kelly is a contributing editor at Sifted. Follow him on X and LinkedIn