How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story

by Billy Gallagher

Farley turned and took a selfie using Snapchat as Evan and Bobby smiled and looked out at the crowd. Evan’s fiancée, supermodel Miranda Kerr, stood on the floor of the stock exchange, as did early Snapchat employees Dena Gallucci and Nick Bell and Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan. Bobby and Evan pressed a button together and a bell rang out loudly, signaling the opening of the day’s trading. The assembled throng of Snap employees, friends, and reporters cheered. Farley encouraged the crowd to cheer louder. Evan, in a white shirt and gold tie, and Bobby, with a blue shirt and darker blue tie, smiled at the crowd, then turned and shared a moment. Bobby patted Evan on the back in celebration as Farley turned and shook hands with them each in turn. This was actually happening. $SNAP was priced at $17 a share, but it opened at a much loftier $24. Snapchat CFO Drew Vollero watched the stock jump and exclaimed, “That’s crazy!” After Snap began trading, Evan, Bobby, Kerr, and Khan headed over to the fourth-floor equities trading desk at Goldman Sachs on 200 West Street. When Snap’s stock jumped up to $24 right out of the gate, the Goldman trading floor broke out in jubilant cheers. The stock closed at $24.48, up 44 percent, with a closing market cap of $34 billion, on par with Marriott and Target. By the end of the day, Evan and Bobby were worth more than $6 and $5 billion, respectively. Never before had so much economic value been created by a consumer product, used by mill...