Evan Thomas Spiegel (born June 4, 1990[1]) is an American and French businessman who is the co-founder and CEO ofSnap Inc. Spiegel was the youngest billionaire in the world in 2015.[2] As of August 2025[update], he had a personal net worth of $2.5 billion according toForbes.[3]
Spiegel holding a trophy at the 7th AnnualCrunchies Awards on February 10, 2014, in San Francisco.
In April 2011, Spiegel proposed an app with ephemeral messaging as a product design class project.[7] Later that year, Spiegel worked with fellow Stanford classmatesBobby Murphy and Reggie Brown to launch a prototype of this concept called "Picaboo", which they later renamed as Snapchat.[8][9] The app's popularity grew significantly and in 2012, Spiegel left Stanford to focus onSnapchat shortly before completing his degree.[1][10] By the end of 2012, Spiegel's Snapchat app had reached 1 million daily active users.[8] He later completed his remaining credits and graduated in 2018.[11][12]Time magazine named Spiegel asone of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014 and 2017.[13][14]
In February 2017, Spiegel and Murphy pledged to donate upwards of 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over the next 15–20 years to an arts, education and youth non-profit. They have created the Snap Foundation which is a non-profit organization.[15][16] Their mission is to "develop pathways to the creative economy for underrepresented youths in Los Angeles." During the COVID-19 pandemic, they donated $3 million to people affected by the pandemic.[17][15][16] In January 2017The Wall Street Journal reported that after the predicted March 2017initial public offering for Snap Inc., Murphy and Evan Spiegel would hold over "70% of the voting power" in the company, and own around 45% of the total stock.[18]
Spiegel began dating Australian modelMiranda Kerr in 2015.[20][21] They became engaged on July 20, 2016.[22][23] They married in a private ceremony in Los Angeles on May 27, 2017.[24] Just a month before Spiegel's engagement to Kerr, he purchased a 7,164 square foot, $12 million house in the Brentwood neighborhood of West Los Angeles that was previously owned byHarrison Ford as well as Owen Reilly.[25] Spiegel has three sons with Kerr and a stepson from Kerr's previous marriage toOrlando Bloom.[26][27][28][29]
As of 2021, Spiegel was ranked number 55 on theForbes 400 with $13.8 billion in wealth.[30]
In 2017, Spiegel became one of the youngest public company CEOs at age 26 when Snap began trading in March.[31] Spiegel is also a member of theBerggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and its board of directors.[32][33][34]
AFrancophile, Spiegel learned French. In 2018, he and his son Hart receivedFrench citizenship through a clause in the naturalization laws that waives French residency requirements for applicants that contribute to the French culture or economy.[35] In November 2022 he joined the board of directors forGagosian Gallery.[36]
In the same year, he gave $20 million to Stockton Scholars, a scholarship program inStockton, California.[37]
In 2022, at theOtis College of Art and Design commencement, Spiegel announced that he and Miranda Kerr would pay off the 2022 graduating class students' debt.[38]
In 2014, emails sent by Spiegel during his time at Stanford were leaked toGawker. The emails includedmisogynistic andhomophobic comments and openly encouraged getting women heavily drunk in an attempt to convince them to have sex. The emails included comments about getting his friends laid by wasted "sororisluts", and shooting lasers at "fat girls". He was also encouraging underage drinking.[39][40]
Spiegel issued a statement responding to the controversy stating, "I'm obviously mortified and embarrassed that my idiotic emails during my fraternity days were made public. I have no excuse. I'm sorry I wrote them at the time and I was a jerk to have written them. They in no way reflect who I am today or my views towards women."[41]
^Maddaus, Gene (October 17, 2013)."Snapchat Went From Frat Boy Dream to Tech World Darling. But Will it Last?".LA Weekly.Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. RetrievedJanuary 23, 2020.John Spiegel strove to make sure his children understood that their life was privileged. Every Christmas, he would take them to hand out food at Head Start centers. Through their church, All Saints Episcopal in Beverly Hills, they traveled to Mexico to build houses for the poor.
^Benner, Katie."Snap's Chief Taps Into the 'Right Now'"Archived February 2, 2017, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, February 1, 2017. "Mr. Spiegel has also involved himself in some political conversations. In 2015, he met with China's president, Xi Jinping, as a member of the 21st Century Council at the Berggruen Institute. Its founder, Nicolas Berggruen, said he impressed a group that includes Mohamed El-Erian, the economist, and former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France with his 'thoughtful and mature approach to people.'"
