According to a leaked email from the Sony Pictures hack, Snapchat has given former Apple executive Scott Forstall a 0.11 percent stake of its company for being an advisor. According to the email, Forstall was given his stake in early 2014 with his advisory occurring in January of that year.
Snapchat would not comment on the role of Scott Forstall as an advisor. In a statement to TechCrunch, however, the company said, “We have a number of advisors, but we don’t comment on the specifics of their relationship with the company.”
Snapchat was given a valuation of $10.5 billion in a recent round of investing, which would make Forstall’s share worth $16.5 million and the options vesting after 24 months. The email shows that Snapchat gave small portions of its stock to a number of employees, but none were given as much as Forstall. Several engineers were given 0.022 percent of the company, while a former Google VP supposed to get 0.5 percent before leaving the company after just 6 months and therefore not vesting his options.
Forstall left Apple in late 2012 and was replaced by Craig Federighi. Forstall, who was Apple’s SVP of iOS Software, reportedly had a fiery relationship with many coworkers. A report from late 2013 claimed that Forstall was advising startups, traveling overseas, and investing in charitable causes post-Apple. That report lines up with today’s revelation of Forstall being an advisor to Snapchat.
Other interesting tidbits from recently leaked Snapchat emails include that the company turned down an offer “significantly bigger” than $3 billion from Facebook. Snapchat has also been exploring the possibility of launching a music feature, according to the emails.
