×

Dropbox CEO Andrew Houston to step down, insider Ashraf Alkarmi named successor

By Thomson Reuters May 26, 2026 | 9:15 AM

May 26 (Reuters) – Dropbox said on Tuesday that CEO and co-founder Andrew Houston will step down after a transition period, promoting insider ​Ashraf Alkarmi to co-CEO ahead of his ‌succession as the sole chief executive.

The file hosting service provider’s shares fell more than 1% in early trading. They have fallen over 3% this year.

Here are some details:

• ‌Following ​a transition period, Alkarmi will ⁠become sole CEO and ⁠Houston will move into the role of executive chairman.

• “AI is changing what’s possible, and our customers are going to see a very different Dropbox – ​faster, smarter and built around the way they actually work,” Alkarmi said.

• Alkarmi is stepping ⁠into the role after serving ⁠as general manager of the company’s ​core products, including file sharing, e-signature tool Sign and ​document platform DocSend.

• Before joining Dropbox in ‌2024, Alkarmi held product leadership roles at Vimeo, Amazon and Meta Platforms.

• In March 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Half Moon ⁠Capital was pressuring Dropbox to scrap its dual-class structure, which gives Houston extra voting power.

• Dropbox also appointed ⁠Michael Torres ‌chief product officer, effective July 7.

• ⁠Torres is currently vice president for the ​Chrome ‌browser at Alphabet’s Google, before which ​he led ⁠product leadership for Amazon’s Kindle.

• Earlier in the month, Dropbox reported first-quarter revenue of $629.5 million, beating analysts’ average estimate of $620.6 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Joyjeet Das)