snapshot company CEO Evan SpiegelIn a report on April 15, it was announced that the job roles of approximately 1,000 Snap team members would be affected due to certain changes at the company. He described it as an “extremely difficult decision” and said he was “deeply sorry” to his colleagues who were leaving the company. The news sparked a debate on social media, with many sharing their reactions to the massive layoffs. Among the posts, Evan Spiegel sparked criticism after photos of him attending Coachella with his wife, Miranda Kerr, went viral just days before the announcement.
The 42-year-old wife of the 32-year-old billionaire released “A Day in the Desert” on April 12, sharing a series of visuals. One of the videos showed him kissing his wife while attending an event.
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How was the social media reaction?
The post has now gone viral on other social media platforms, prompting intense criticism. One person wrote: “This guy is cold with his $$$$.” Another added: “Worst CEO in CEO history.”
A third commented: “He needs to be fired.” A fourth said, “He has the money, not his employees.”
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However, some believe his professional and personal life should be kept separate. Someone said: “What does the CEO’s listening to music have to do with running the company next year?”
Read Evan Spiegel’s full note to employees:
Dear team,
The changes we’re announcing today will impact approximately 1,000 Snap team members, including 16% of full-time employees, in addition to closing more than 300 open positions. This has been an extremely difficult decision and I am deeply sorry to our colleagues who are leaving us. You’ve made important contributions to Snap, and we’re committed to supporting you in this transition.
Last fall, I described Snap as facing tough times and needing a new way of working faster and more efficiently while pivoting to profitable growth. Over the past several months, we have carefully examined the work required to best serve our community and partners and made difficult choices to prioritize investments that we believe have the greatest potential to create long-term value. As a result of these changes, we expect to reduce our annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, helping to establish a clearer path to net profit profitability.
While these changes are necessary to realize Snap’s long-term potential, we believe rapid advances in AI allow our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase speed, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers. We’ve seen small teams leverage AI tools to drive meaningful progress on several important initiatives, including Snapchat+, enhanced ad platform performance, and efficiency improvements to Snap Lite infrastructure.
If you’re part of our North America team, please work from home today. In the U.S., affected team members will receive an email notification within the next hour with information on next steps. For locations outside the United States, you will receive more details about next steps from leadership and Human Resources.
To outgoing colleagues: thank you. Your hard work helps shape Snap, and we’re deeply grateful for your contributions. For departing U.S. team members, we will provide four months of severance, health insurance, equity vesting, and career transition support. Outside the United States, we will follow local processes and seek to provide similar support consistent with local regulations.
To everyone continuing this journey: Change of this scale and speed is never easy, nor will it be seamless. Thank you for your resilience, compassion and commitment to each other, the communities and partners we serve. Our responsibility is to move forward with clarity, empathy, and determination to build a faster, stronger, and longer-lasting Snap for the long term.
Evan
