The rise of Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, once one of the youngest billionaires in the world

Lakshmi VaranasiSep 7, 2023, 17:28 IST

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has net worth of around $2.6 billion according to estimates from Forbes.Getty

Evan Spiegel became one of the world's youngest billionaires at age 25.
Spiegel, who is now 33, has a net worth of $2.6 billion according to Forbes.

Evan Spiegel is no stranger to the ups and downs of helming a major tech company.

In 2015, Spiegel became one of the youngest billionaires in the world — just four years after launching Snap. Between 2021 and 2022, though, Spiegel saw his net worth tank by almost 83% as Snap contended with year-over-year losses and problems with its advertising business. Now, at 33, he's worth around $2.6 billion, according to the latest estimates from Forbes.

Snap still ranks among the world's most recognized social media brands, and boasts almost 400 million daily active users, Spiegel said in the company's 2023 second quarter earnings release.

However, during the last year, the company underwent sweeping layoffs, shut down projects, and saw a shakeup in its executive ranks, as it struggled with profitability and steady revenue growth.

Here's how Evan Spiegel got his start and became a billionaire by the time he was 25.

Spiegel was born in 1990, and grew up in a $2 million house in the Pacific Palisades, a ritzy Los Angeles enclave just east of Malibu.

Google Maps

Spiegel spent his early years at an ultra-exclusive school called Crossroads, which costs tens of thousands per academic year.

A Google Maps street view of Crossroads School in Santa Monica.Google Maps

Spiegel was reportedly bullied in school from a young age, according to LA Weekly.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

The Spiegel family was a member of a number of exclusive clubs, including the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica and the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club

When Spiegel turned 16 and got his driver's license his parents gave him a new Cadillac Escalade.

Cadillac

Around this time, Spiegel landed a marketing internship with Red Bull, during which he reportedly racked up expenses, and held several parties at his father's home.

John Spiegel, father of Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Spiegel went on to study product design at Stanford University, his father's alma mater.

Stanford Universityturtix/Shutterstock

Spiegel befriended Intuit cofounder Scott Cook after he gave a talk at one of those classes.

Intuit cofounder Scott Cook.Getty

At Stanford, Spiegel met future Snapchat cofounders Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy who were all part of the fraternity, Kappa Sigma, at some point.

From left to right: Reggie Brown, Bobby Murphy, and Evan Spiegel.LA County Superior Court

Spiegel was social chair of his fraternity, which was temporarily kicked off campus during his sophomore year for a party it hosted.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.Getty/Michael Kovac

Early on, Spiegel and Murphy worked together on failed startup ideas, including one to help high schoolers apply for college.

Evan Spiegel, left, and Bobby Murphy.Snapchat

However, the early founding story of Snapchat is murky and disputed.

Reggie Brown, from a deposition clip obtained by Business Insider.Business Insider/Alyson Shontell

In the summer of 2011, the three college students stayed at Spiegel's dad's house in the Palisades to work on their project: an app for sending pictures that would expire and disappear after a set amount of time.

The Spiegel home in Pacific Palisades where Snapchat was launched.Google Street View

In the summer of 2011, the three college students stayed at Spiegel's dad's house in the Palisades to work on their project: an app for sending pictures that would expire and disappear after a set amount of time.

The app's ghost logo was developed around this time, named "Ghostface Chillah" after Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

The app first launched in July 2011 under the name Picaboo, and was spread by simple word-of-mouth and invites to the founders' friends.

The Snapchat app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustrationReuters

Not long after the launch, the relationship between the three founders began to fray, and Brown was forced out of the company.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

In 2012, Spiegel dropped out of Stanford just a few credits short of graduation to work on Snapchat full-time.

Stanford University.David Madison/Getty Images

However, he wasn't the only Spiegel sibling to attend — and drop out of —Stanford.

Caroline Spiegel, sister of Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.Caroline Spiegel

The same year that Evan Spiegel dropped out of Stanford, Snapchat moved into an office on the Venice boardwalk.

Glassdoor

By mid-2013, Snapchat had nearly 60 million downloads and was valued at $800 million.

Illustration adapted from Bruce Turner/Flickr

Although he previously joked he wouldn't move out of his dad's house "until he kicks me out," Spiegel finally moved into his own place in November 2014.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters, Facebook / David Offers Fine Homes

Spiegel, who has long been fascinated with the music industry, explored the idea of Snapchat launching its own music label in 2014.

Michael Lynton, former Sony Entertainment CEO and current Snapchat chairman.David McNew/Getty

Spiegel is not shy about living the life of luxury.

Matrix / Contributor

Spiegel cares about fashion more than most tech CEOs, and he made headlines in October 2015 for appearing on the cover of Vogue Italy.

Vogue Italy

In 2015, Spiegel said his work uniform includes $460 Common Projects sneakers, $255 Patrik Ervell black jeans, and a $60 James Perse white v-neck that he once told GQ has been a "staple since high school."

Mike Blake/Reuters

In 2015, Spiegel said his work uniform includes $460 Common Projects sneakers, $255 Patrik Ervell black jeans, and a $60 James Perse white v-neck that he once told GQ has been a "staple since high school."

Spiegel values secrecy highly in both his business dealings as well as in his personal life.

A security camera over the door of Snapchat's headquarters in Venice.Thomson Reuters

Snapchat employees have painted Spiegel as an "aloof" leader.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Spiegel has said he's incredibly shy, and rarely addresses and interacts with employees because he finds it intimidating and awkward.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.Michael Kovac/Getty

Snap employees told Recode in 2016 that Spiegel is involved in all business decisions, and that his opinions are final — up to point he's killed "all-but-finalized" deals at the last minute.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.AP

Snap employees told Recode in 2016 that Spiegel is involved in all business decisions, and that his opinions are final — up to point he's killed "all-but-finalized" deals at the last minute.

As Snapchat's user base and valuation continued to swell, Spiegel quickly became a bona fide celebrity in the worlds of tech and media, and he regularly rubs shoulders with A-listers and celebrities.

Spiegel, center, with George Lucas, left, and Vice CEO Shane Smith in October 2014.Michael Kovac / Getty Images

As Snapchat's user base and valuation continued to swell, Spiegel quickly became a bona fide celebrity in the worlds of tech and media, and he regularly rubs shoulders with A-listers and celebrities.

Spiegel eventually started dating Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr in 2015 after the two met the year before at a dinner for Louis Vuitton.

AP Images

Things moved quickly for the couple after that. In May 2016, Spiegel and Kerr purchased a house in Brentwood for $12 million.

Zillow

A few months later, in July 2016, the couple announced they were engaged. Kerr showed off her ring on Snapchat, no less.

Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegel.Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for LACMA

Kerr has not hesitated to weigh in on Spiegel's company.

Brad Barket/Getty Images

Spiegel eventually addressed Facebook's copying of Snapchat, which his company internally referred to as "Project Voldemort."

Snapchat Stories, one of the features Facebook has been accused of copying.Snapchat

In September 2016, Spiegel renamed his company to Snap Inc., which he called it a "camera company" in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Snapchat/YouTube

In February 2017, Spiegel and cofounder Bobby Murphy established the Snap Foundation to support nonprofit arts, education, and youth programs.

Murphy (left) and Spiegel (right).J.Emilio Flores / Contributor/Getty Images

Snap went public on March 2, 2017 at a valuation of roughly $33 billion.

Snap cofounders Evan Spiegel, left, and Bobby Murphy during the company's IPO debut.Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Not long after, Kerr and Spiegel tied the knot in a backyard ceremony at their home in Brentwood in May 2017.

Steve Granitz/WireImage

In November 2017, Spiegel and Kerr announced they were expecting their first child together. A baby boy, named Hart, was born in May 2018.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

When Spiegel isn't running Snap, Kerr says her husband loves to come home and chill with the family.

HEV/BuzzFoto via Getty Images

Spiegel said the couple imposes a limit on screen time for Flynn, Kerr's eldest son from her previous marriage to actor Orlando Bloom.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and wife Miranda Kerr.Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Snap Inc

Nonetheless, Spiegel and his 8-year-old stepson are reportedly close.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.Snap

Spiegel has also been a French citizen since 2018.

Evan Spiegel, left, and French president Emmanuel Macron.AP

2018 also presented Spiegel with some new challenges. Snap rolled out a redesign to its app in February that was massively unpopular with users.

Michael Buckner/BMA2015/Getty Images

Kerr, Spiegel's wife, also told him she hated the redesign.

Greg Sandoval/Business Insider

Although 2018 proved difficult for Spiegel, Snapchat rebounded in 2019 to recover its disastrous losses.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

In March 2019, Kerr and Spiegel said they were expecting their second child together. Kerr announced on Instagram in October that she had given birth to a baby boy named Myles.

Photo by JB Lacroix/Getty Images

In March 2019, Kerr and Spiegel said they were expecting their second child together. Kerr announced on Instagram in October that she had given birth to a baby boy named Myles.

2019 was also a massive year for another social platform: TikTok, the viral video-sharing app.

A 3-D printed figures are seen in front of displayed Tik Tok logo in this picture illustrationReuters

In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Alley" later that year Spiegel once again asserted that TikTok was not encroaching on Snap's user base.

Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are all defendants in the lawsuit.Chesnot/Getty Images

Spiegel also spoke out about the challenges of running a public company

Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Spiegel has also said he didn't watch television until he was a teen.

Getty Images / Handout/Getty Images

In January 2021, Spiegel and Kerr purchased a $30 million mansion in Paris

Pierre Mouton /Stringer/Getty Images

2021 was a banner year for the company as it marked Snap's highest growth in users since going public in 2017.

Snap's CEO Evan SpiegelGetty Images for Snap, Inc.

At the same time, Spiegel was forced to reckon with charges against the lack of diversity in Snap's workforce.

Snapchat CEO Evan SpiegelMichael Kovac/Getty Images

Snap also launched an investigation into allegations of racism and sexism at the company.

Youtube/Snapchat

Later that year, Spiegel and Kerr purchased property in the ritzy Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills where other tech execs like Sean Parker own homes.

The ritzy neighborhood of Holmby Hills in Los Angeles.Google Maps

After laying off about 20% of the company's staff in late August 2022, Spiegel told remaining employees at an all hands meeting to "prove the haters wrong."

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel demos the company's AR glasses.Snap Inc/Getty Images for Snap Inc

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Spiegel's net worth plunged from $13.9 billion to $2.3 billion, according to estimates by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Co-Founder and CEO of Snap Inc. Evan Spiegel speaks onstage during Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on October 3, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Despite Snap's expansion into augmented reality, Spiegel has been more skeptical of virtual reality — and the metaverse.

Getty Images

This year, as US lawmakers consider ways to implement a ban on TikTok, Spiegel has said the company would love a "short-term" one in the US.

Evan Spiegel.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Here's how to find out which brands, sports, and musicians Facebook and Instagram think you're interested in

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The rise of Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, once one of the youngest billionaires in the world

Spiegel was born in 1990, and grew up in a $2 million house in the Pacific Palisades, a ritzy Los Angeles enclave just east of Malibu.

Spiegel spent his early years at an ultra-exclusive school called Crossroads, which costs tens of thousands per academic year.

Spiegel was reportedly bullied in school from a young age, according to LA Weekly.

The Spiegel family was a member of a number of exclusive clubs, including the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica and the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

When Spiegel turned 16 and got his driver's license his parents gave him a new Cadillac Escalade.

Around this time, Spiegel landed a marketing internship with Red Bull, during which he reportedly racked up expenses, and held several parties at his father's home.

Spiegel went on to study product design at Stanford University, his father's alma mater.

Spiegel befriended Intuit cofounder Scott Cook after he gave a talk at one of those classes.

At Stanford, Spiegel met future Snapchat cofounders Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy who were all part of the fraternity, Kappa Sigma, at some point.

Spiegel was social chair of his fraternity, which was temporarily kicked off campus during his sophomore year for a party it hosted.

Early on, Spiegel and Murphy worked together on failed startup ideas, including one to help high schoolers apply for college.

However, the early founding story of Snapchat is murky and disputed.

In the summer of 2011, the three college students stayed at Spiegel's dad's house in the Palisades to work on their project: an app for sending pictures that would expire and disappear after a set amount of time.

The app's ghost logo was developed around this time, named "Ghostface Chillah" after Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah.

The app first launched in July 2011 under the name Picaboo, and was spread by simple word-of-mouth and invites to the founders' friends.

Not long after the launch, the relationship between the three founders began to fray, and Brown was forced out of the company.

In 2012, Spiegel dropped out of Stanford just a few credits short of graduation to work on Snapchat full-time.

However, he wasn't the only Spiegel sibling to attend — and drop out of —Stanford.

The same year that Evan Spiegel dropped out of Stanford, Snapchat moved into an office on the Venice boardwalk.

By mid-2013, Snapchat had nearly 60 million downloads and was valued at $800 million.

Although he previously joked he wouldn't move out of his dad's house "until he kicks me out," Spiegel finally moved into his own place in November 2014.

Spiegel, who has long been fascinated with the music industry, explored the idea of Snapchat launching its own music label in 2014.

Spiegel is not shy about living the life of luxury.

Spiegel cares about fashion more than most tech CEOs, and he made headlines in October 2015 for appearing on the cover of Vogue Italy.

In 2015, Spiegel said his work uniform includes $460 Common Projects sneakers, $255 Patrik Ervell black jeans, and a $60 James Perse white v-neck that he once told GQ has been a "staple since high school."

Spiegel values secrecy highly in both his business dealings as well as in his personal life.

Snapchat employees have painted Spiegel as an "aloof" leader.

Spiegel has said he's incredibly shy, and rarely addresses and interacts with employees because he finds it intimidating and awkward.

Snap employees told Recode in 2016 that Spiegel is involved in all business decisions, and that his opinions are final — up to point he's killed "all-but-finalized" deals at the last minute.

As Snapchat's user base and valuation continued to swell, Spiegel quickly became a bona fide celebrity in the worlds of tech and media, and he regularly rubs shoulders with A-listers and celebrities.

Spiegel eventually started dating Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr in 2015 after the two met the year before at a dinner for Louis Vuitton.

Things moved quickly for the couple after that. In May 2016, Spiegel and Kerr purchased a house in Brentwood for $12 million.

A few months later, in July 2016, the couple announced they were engaged. Kerr showed off her ring on Snapchat, no less.

Kerr has not hesitated to weigh in on Spiegel's company.

Spiegel eventually addressed Facebook's copying of Snapchat, which his company internally referred to as "Project Voldemort."

In September 2016, Spiegel renamed his company to Snap Inc., which he called it a "camera company" in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

In February 2017, Spiegel and cofounder Bobby Murphy established the Snap Foundation to support nonprofit arts, education, and youth programs.

Snap went public on March 2, 2017 at a valuation of roughly $33 billion.

Not long after, Kerr and Spiegel tied the knot in a backyard ceremony at their home in Brentwood in May 2017.

In November 2017, Spiegel and Kerr announced they were expecting their first child together. A baby boy, named Hart, was born in May 2018.

When Spiegel isn't running Snap, Kerr says her husband loves to come home and chill with the family.

Spiegel said the couple imposes a limit on screen time for Flynn, Kerr's eldest son from her previous marriage to actor Orlando Bloom.

Nonetheless, Spiegel and his 8-year-old stepson are reportedly close.

Spiegel has also been a French citizen since 2018.

2018 also presented Spiegel with some new challenges. Snap rolled out a redesign to its app in February that was massively unpopular with users.

Kerr, Spiegel's wife, also told him she hated the redesign.

Although 2018 proved difficult for Spiegel, Snapchat rebounded in 2019 to recover its disastrous losses.

In March 2019, Kerr and Spiegel said they were expecting their second child together. Kerr announced on Instagram in October that she had given birth to a baby boy named Myles.

2019 was also a massive year for another social platform: TikTok, the viral video-sharing app.

In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Alley" later that year Spiegel once again asserted that TikTok was not encroaching on Snap's user base.

Spiegel also spoke out about the challenges of running a public company

Spiegel has also said he didn't watch television until he was a teen.

In January 2021, Spiegel and Kerr purchased a $30 million mansion in Paris

2021 was a banner year for the company as it marked Snap's highest growth in users since going public in 2017.

At the same time, Spiegel was forced to reckon with charges against the lack of diversity in Snap's workforce.

Snap also launched an investigation into allegations of racism and sexism at the company.

Later that year, Spiegel and Kerr purchased property in the ritzy Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills where other tech execs like Sean Parker own homes.

After laying off about 20% of the company's staff in late August 2022, Spiegel told remaining employees at an all hands meeting to "prove the haters wrong."

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Spiegel's net worth plunged from $13.9 billion to $2.3 billion, according to estimates by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Despite Snap's expansion into augmented reality, Spiegel has been more skeptical of virtual reality — and the metaverse.

This year, as US lawmakers consider ways to implement a ban on TikTok, Spiegel has said the company would love a "short-term" one in the US.