Snapchat Ensures Founder Control Post-IPO and Google Invests
- Spiegel, Murphy control about 74% of company, Equidate says
- Google Capital rebrands and takes undisclosed stake in Snap
Snapchat Isn't Just for the Youngs Anymore
This article is for subscribers only.
Snap Inc. amended its charter to ensure that its founders retain majority voting control after the company’s initial public offering, giving them more control than the founders at Facebook Inc. and Google had after those companies went public. Separately, Google quietly made an undisclosed investment in Snap.
Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Bobby Murphy together control about 74 percent of the company, according to an analysis by Equidate, a stock market for private technology companies. That compares with the 41 percent that Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin had after their IPO, and the 56 percent Mark Zuckerberg held after Facebook’s.