Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990)[1] is a French-American businessman, co-founder and CEO of
Snap Inc. Spiegel was the youngest billionaire in the world in 2015.[2] As of March 2023, he had a personal net worth of $2.7 billion according to Forbes.[3]
In April 2011, Spiegel proposed an app with ephemeral messaging as a product design class project.[7] Later that year, Spiegel worked with fellow Stanford classmates
Bobby Murphy and
Reggie Brown to launch a prototype of this concept called "Picaboo", which they later renamed as Snapchat.[8][9] The app's popularity grew significantly and in 2012, Spiegel left Stanford to focus on
Snapchat shortly before completing his degree.[1][10] By the end of 2012, Spiegel's Snapchat app had reached 1 million daily active users.[8] He later completed his remaining credits and graduated in 2018.[11][12]
In February 2017, Spiegel and Murphy pledged to donate upwards of 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over the next 15–20 years to an arts, education and youth non-profit. They have created the Snap Foundation which is a non-profit organization targeted to help in these areas.[citation needed] Their mission is to "develop pathways to the creative economy for underrepresented youths in Los Angeles." Recently they have donated $3 million to people affected by COVID-19.[13][14][15] In January 2017 The Wall Street Journal reported that after the predicted March 2017 IPO for Snap Inc., Murphy and Evan Spiegel would hold over "70% of the voting power" in the company, and own around 45% of the total stock.[16]
Controversy
In 2014, emails sent by Spiegel during his time at Stanford were leaked to Gawker. The emails included
misogynistic and
homophobic comments and openly encouraged getting women heavily drunk in an attempt to convince them to have sex. The emails included comments about getting his friends laid by wasted "sororisluts", and shooting lasers at "fat girls". He was also encouraging underage drinking.[17][18][19][20]
Spiegel issued a statement responding to the controversy stating, "I'm obviously mortified and embarrassed that my idiotic emails during my fraternity days were made public. I have no excuse. I'm sorry I wrote them at the time and I was jerk to have written them. They in no way reflect who I am today or my views towards women."[21]
Personal life
Spiegel began dating Australian model
Miranda Kerr in 2015.[22][23] They became engaged on July 20, 2016.[24][25] They married in a private ceremony in Los Angeles on May 27, 2017.[26] Just a month before Spiegel's engagement to Kerr, he purchased a 7,164 square foot, $12 million house that was previously owned by
Harrison Ford.[27] In May 2018, Kerr gave birth to their first child, a son.[28][29] In October 2019, Kerr gave birth to their second son.[30] In February 2024, Kerr gave birth to their third son.[31]
As of 2021, Spiegel was ranked number 55 on the
Forbes 400 with $13.8 billion in wealth.[32]
In 2017, Spiegel became one of the youngest public company CEOs at age 26 when Snap began trading in March.[33] Spiegel is also a member of the
Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council.[34][35][36]
A
Francophile, Spiegel learned French. In 2018, he and his son Hart received
French citizenship through a clause in the naturalization laws that waives French residency requirements for applicants that contribute to the French culture or economy.[37] In November 2022 he joined the board of directors for
Gagosian Gallery.[38]
Charity
In the same year, he gave $20 million to Stockton Scholars, a scholarship program in
Stockton, California.[39]
In 2022, at the
Otis College of Art and Design commencement, Spiegel announced that he and Miranda Kerr would pay off the 2022 graduating class's student debt.[40]
^Maddaus, Gene (October 17, 2013).
"Snapchat Went From Frat Boy Dream to Tech World Darling. But Will it Last?". LA Weekly.
Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020. John Spiegel strove to make sure his children understood that their life was privileged. Every Christmas, he would take them to hand out food at Head Start centers. Through their church, All Saints Episcopal in Beverly Hills, they traveled to Mexico to build houses for the poor.
^Benner, Katie.
"Snap's Chief Taps Into the 'Right Now'"Archived February 2, 2017, at the
Wayback Machine, The New York Times, February 1, 2017. "Mr. Spiegel has also involved himself in some political conversations. In 2015, he met with China's president, Xi Jinping, as a member of the 21st Century Council at the Berggruen Institute. Its founder, Nicolas Berggruen, said he impressed a group that includes Mohamed El-Erian, the economist, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France with his 'thoughtful and mature approach to people.'"