-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
1/6
Snapchat CEO Mortified by Leaked Stanford
Frat E-Mailshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-
05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlSnapchat
Inc. Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel
apologized for e-mails he sent during his fraternity
days that celebrated getting drunk and convincing
sorority women to perform sexual acts.
Theprofanity-laced e-mailswere published yesterday
by Gawker Media LLCs Valleywag blog and mostly
related to Spiegel organizing Stanford Universityfraternity
parties for Kappa Sigma in 2009 and 2010.
In one missive, Spiegel recounts being so drunk he
peed on a woman in bed with him.
Im obviously mortified and embarrassed that my
idiotic e-mails during my fraternity days were made
public, Spiegel said in an e-mailed statement
yesterday. I have no excuse. Im 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 towardswomen.
The disclosure of the e-mails is the latest growing pain
faced by Spiegel, 23, whose Los Angeles-based
company makes a mobile application for disappearing
photo messages. Spiegel last year turned down an
acquisition offer from Facebook Inc. for about $3
billion and has been working to build the business. Yet
he has encountered snafus, including apologizing inJanuary for a
data breach. Earlier this month, Snapchat
settled claims by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
that it deceived users by falsely promising its photo
messages disappeared.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/snapchat-ceo-mortified-by-leaked-stanford-frat-e-mails.html
-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
2/6
Future Business
Spiegels comments may endanger the companys
chances with advertisers once Snapchat develops itsbusiness
model, said Eric Schiffer, chairman of
Reputation Management Consultants, who advises
companies on how to handle their online reputations.
I think he needs to go a lot further than just
apologizing and I think he needs to step down,
Schiffer said. Is a Coca-Cola or a Procter & Gamble
or a Pepsi, which has a female CEO, going to want to
put millions of dollars into a company when the seniorleader
talks about women like cattle?
Mary Ritti, a spokeswoman for Snapchat, declined to
comment on Spiegels job status.
Spiegel has hired an executive from Google Inc. to
take charge of security issues, as well as a lobbyist to
educate policymakers about his company. Snapchats
popularity has continued to grow, with people nowsending more
than 700 million disappearing snaps a
day and more than 500 million stories viewed daily,
the company has said.
Executives Pasts
Spiegel isnt the only technology executive to have to
respond to actions from months or years back. MozillaCorp. CEO
Brendan Eich stepped down in April after
being criticized for donating money to an anti-gay-
marriage group in 2008. That same month, RadiumOne
Inc. CEO Gurbaksh Chahal was fired after he pleaded
guilty to two misdemeanor battery counts against his
-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
3/6
girlfriend from an incident eight months earlier.
I worry about a world in which everyone is going to
be judged by what they said privately to their friends
while drunk and in college, said Irina Raicu, directorof the
Internet Ethics Program at Santa Clara
University. Here, its a really difficult situation
because hes not that far removed from those days and
the e-mails are awful.
Snapchat, born in 2011 in Spiegels fraternity house,
has raised funding from investors including
Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst,
Benchmark, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV
Angel. The investors either declined to comment or
didnt respond to requests for comment.
Stanford Condemns Snapchat CEOs
E-Mails in Message to
Studentshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-30/stanford-condemns-snapchat-ceo-s-e-mails-in-message-to-students.htmlStanford
Universitysent a message to
undergraduates condemning e-mails sent
by Snapchat Inc. Chief Executive Officer
Evan Spiegel when he belonged to afraternity at the school.
Thee-mailsfrom 2009 and 2010, which
celebrated getting drunk and convincing
sorority women to perform sexual acts,
were published by Gawker Media LLCs
http://topics.bloomberg.com/stanford-university/http://topics.bloomberg.com/stanford-university/http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://valleywag.gawker.com/fuck-bitches-get-leid-the-sleazy-frat-emails-of-snap-1582604137http://topics.bloomberg.com/stanford-university/
-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
4/6
-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
5/6
towards women.
Mary Ritti, a spokeswoman for Snapchat,
declined to comment. Lisa Lapin, a
spokeswoman for Stanford, said the schoolhad no comment beyond
the provosts
message.
We can choose to turn a blind eye to such
statements and chalk them up to youthful
indiscretion, Etchemendy told
undergraduates. Or we can be more
courageous, and affirmatively reject such
behavior whenever and wherever we see it,
even -- no especially -- if it comes from a
friend, a classmate, or a colleague.
Spiegel has faced many growing pains as
the head of Snapchat, including a company
data breach. Earlier this month, the startup
settled claims by the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission that it deceived users by
falsely promising its photo messages
disappeared.
Snapchat, born in 2011 in Spiegels
fraternity house, has raised funding from
investors including Institutional Venture
Partners, General Catalyst, Benchmark,
Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV
Angel.
To contact the reporter on this story: SarahFrier inSan
[email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this
story: Pui-Wing Tam
[email protected]
http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-30/[email protected]://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-30/[email protected]://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-30/[email protected]:[email protected]://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/
-
8/12/2019 Snapchat CEO
6/6
Stevenson
