In the third quarter, its revenue grew a paltry 6%, down from the most recent second-quarter revenue growth of 13%. On Thursday, the company ended regular trading hours with a market capitalization of around $17.91 billion, but that was headed toward $13 billion with the after-hours collapse.īesides protecting themselves and their investment, Snap’s executives have shown little ability to head off big issues, nor offer any worthwhile solutions to the current ad downturn. Shares of Snap tumbled an additional 25% to just under $8 in after-hours trading, putting them near the lowest prices since March 2020. Spiegel alone can exercise voting control over a majority of our outstanding capital stock.” Those two still control over 99% of the voting power of the company’s capital stock, and as the parent of Snapchat reminded investors in its annual report, “Mr. But it’s also worth pointing out who the biggest investors in Snap are: Spiegel and his co-founder Bobby Murphy.Īs the company’s largest individual shareholders, Spiegel and Murphy are among the key beneficiaries of Snap’s plans to buy back stock, which usually leads to a boost in the stock price. On the face of it, this seems like an investor-friendly approach - Barron’s pointed out earlier this year that i nvestors were suffering while employees were faring better with the hefty stock-comp plans. As Snap again reported disappointing results Thursday and saw the stock plunge again, the company decided now was the time to initiate a stock buyback plan, promising to spend up to $500 million to offset the dilution from employee stock plans - in the past nine months, Snap has spent $937 million on stock-based compensation.

Then in August, news came that Snap was laying off one in five employees. Three months ago, amid the beginning of a huge slowdown in the ad business, Snap initiated a unique dividend meant to ensure that the founders maintained control of the company, even if they sold their stock - protecting themselves.

Spiegel evan