The fast-growing messaging and media app has seen star talent exit quickly. What’s behind those buzzy departures and what they really mean.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has been able to recruit an impressive roster of top-tier talent to his Venice, California-based startup. And that’s why when some of those same high-profile hires have departed, often rather quickly, questions have been raised about the direction of the company as well as about Spiegel’s abilities as a manager. The list of notable Snapchat departures is growing fast. There’s Snapchat engineering VP Peter Magnusson, who left in 2014; COO Emily White, who decamped earlier this year; and sales head Mike Randall and HR chief Sara Sperling, who both left not long before White. Shannon Petranoff, a former Paramount VP who joined Snapchat in March, only to return to Paramount in September; The Information reported last month that Snapchat had fired its chief talent officer Simmi Singh; and original content leader Marcus Wiley, a former Fox executive, departed Snapchat just weeks ago when the company shut down its original content initiative, for now at least.
