Spiegel’s Long View Pays Off For Snap: The Information’s Tech Briefing

You have to hand it to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel: He took the long view and turned out to be right. A little over two years ago, Snap stock was trading as low as $4.99 and user growth was flatlining. In a memorable story in The Information, we described tensions on the board over the company’s failure to meet Wall Street’s expectations for user growth. Spiegel’s attitude, we reported, was “fuck the markets.” He preferred to focus on how the company would evolve over a 10-year period.

Well, today Snap hit a new high of $70.45, rising 11% on a very volatile day in the market, after an investor presentation where executives told investors they expected 50% revenue growth for the next several years. That caps a striking turnaround over the past two years as user growth recovered and revenue growth accelerated to hit 62% in the most recent quarter, up from 36% at the end of 2018. Today’s statement suggests Snap believes the recent growth rate is sustainable.