Snap CEO Evan Spiegel upset workers by calling layoffs a chance to show up ‘haters’: report
Snap boss Evan Spiegel reportedly angered his remaining employees Thursday by framing the company’s recent sweeping layoffs as a chance for them to stick it to the firm’s “haters.”
Spiegel’s remarks came during an all-hands meeting with Snap employees after the social media app slashed about 20% of its workforce, or more than 1,200 workers, as it contends with an extended stock slump as well as sagging revenue and user growth.
The Snap CEO asserted that the round of pink slips, while a setback, was a chance for the company to “prove the haters wrong” moving forward, sources familiar with his remarks told Insider.
Speigel’s comments reportedly upset workers even further during a time in which companywide morale was already “extremely down.”
“Kind creative and smart is the motto at Snapchat,” one laid-off worker after the cuts, according to the outlet. “Looks like that went out of the window right away when things started going bad.”
Spiegel read prepared remarks about the job cuts before answering a few pre-selected questions from workers. The meeting purportedly “provided little comfort” to Snap’s workforce.
One person who attended the all-hands meeting said Spiegel also “diverted blame” for Snap’s extensive hiring drive in the months ahead of the layoffs, asserting he had approved fewer new positions than managers had requested.
In the same meeting, Snap reportedly revealed that remaining workers would be getting a boost to their stock-based compensation later this year, with the exact terms to be disclosed in the fall.
The Post has reached out to Snap for comment.
Snap publicly confirmed the layoffs and released Spiegel’s memo to employees explaining the need for a restructuring. The company also cut ties with two senior advertising executives.
“Unfortunately, given our current lower rate of revenue growth, it has become clear that we must reduce our cost structure to avoid incurring significant ongoing losses,” Spiegel said.
“We are restructuring our business to increase focus on our three strategic priorities: community growth, revenue growth, and augmented reality,” Spiegel added. “Projects that don’t directly contribute to these areas will be discontinued or receive substantially reduced investment.”
Snap shares jumped nearly 9% after the company confirmed the layoffs.
The company’s stock has plunged about 75% this year during a period of intense competition among social media apps and an overall slump in the tech sector. Macroeconomic conditions, such as the Federal Reserve’s series of interest rate hikes and uncertainty related to the Russia-Ukraine war, have weighed on US corporations for months.
Snap joined other prominent tech firms that have conducted layoffs this summer, including Netflix, Coinbase and LinkedIn. Other major tech companies, including Meta and Google, have enacted hiring freezes.