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DROPBOX FOUNDER HOUSTON STEPS DOWN AS CEO

AI DESK1 MIN READ
TUE, MAY 26, 2026

■ AI-SUMMARIZED FROM 1 SOURCE ▸ TIMELINE

Drew Houston is transitioning from CEO to executive chairman after 19 years leading Dropbox. Ashraf Alkarmi, currently senior vice president and general manager of Dropbox Core, will take over as CEO.

Houston founded Dropbox in 2008 at age 24 and built it into a major cloud storage platform serving millions of users and thousands of enterprise clients. Under his leadership, the company went public in 2018 and expanded beyond file storage into broader workplace collaboration tools. Alkarmi joined Dropbox in 2014 and has overseen the company's core file storage and sync business, which remains its primary revenue driver. His promotion reflects the company's focus on maintaining its foundational products while exploring new growth areas. Houston's shift to executive chairman is common among long-tenured founders seeking to step back from day-to-day operations while maintaining strategic influence. Dropbox did not announce specific reasons for the leadership change or a timeline for the transition. The move affects a company with approximately 8,000 employees and an annual revenue exceeding $2 billion.

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