Dropbox CEO Drew Houston steps down, Ashraf Alkarmi co-CEO

Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston is stepping down from day-to-day leadership after 19 years, the company announced. He will transition to the role of executive chairman following a period where he will serve as co-CEO alongside his successor, Ashraf Alkarmi, who is currently the company’s product chief. Alkarmi will later become the sole chief executive.

The board formalized the leadership change in a regulatory filing, noting Alkarmi’s appointment as co-CEO is effective immediately. The company stated that its near-term financial guidance remains in line with previously provided ranges. In early trading following the announcement, Dropbox shares fell more than 1%.

Houston founded Dropbox in 2007 with Arash Ferdowsi, building it from a file-syncing startup into a cloud storage platform used by hundreds of millions. The company reported having more than 700 million registered accounts and over 18 million paying users. In an internal message, Houston expressed confidence in his successor, praising Alkarmi for transforming the company's core business.

Ashraf Alkarmi joined Dropbox in late 2024 as General Manager and Senior Vice President of Core Products, overseeing file...