Shares of Snapchat decline sharply on Monday after the company's chief executive Evan Spiegel allegedly made comments about not focusing on developments in countries such as India because they are "poor."
Shares of Snapchat decline sharply on Monday after the company’s chief executive Evan Spiegel allegedly made comments about not focusing on developments in countries such as India because they are “poor.”
SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Shares of Snap Inc. fell nearly two percent Monday after the company’s chief executive faced backlash for comments allegedly made about not prioritizing growth in India and Spain because they were “poor” countries.
The decline put Snap on track to close at its lowest level in nearly a month, a sharp contrast from the company’s $3.4 billion public listing that was the hottest by a technology company in three years.
The outcry on social media was almost immediate — Twitter users began circulating the hashtag “#BoycottSnapchat” and called for users to uninstall the application from their phones. The campaign began after an unsealed legal document alleged Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel had said he was uninterested in prioritizing growth in India and Spain because they were “poor.”
Filed in Los Angeles by an ex-employee of the company, the lawsuit has been pegged as a publicity stunt by the company. “This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain,” Spiegel is alleged to have said, according to the unsealed document.
“Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world,” Snap said in a statement.
In a notice to the court filed earlier this week, Snap said it was dropping the effort to keep the unredacted complaint sealed because it “has nothing to hide” since going public last month. Snap described the accuser as a “disgruntled employee fired for poor performance” who filed the lawsuit out of thirst for publicity.
“The simple fact is that he knows exactly nothing about Snap’s current metrics,” the company’s attorneys wrote. “He and his lawyers are — not to put too fine a point on matters — just making things up.”
John Pierce, Pompliano’s attorney, said that Snap withdrew its effort to seal the complaint because the company knew it would lose.
“This attempt to save face by Snap should serve as a reminder that no matter how big you are (or how many billions of dollars you have) in our system everyone has to play by the same set of rules,” Pierce said.
