Who Owns Snapchat?

Snapchat, the vanishing chat app that first began as "Picaboo," was both founded and launched in 2011. By October 2012, the app reportedly saw traffic to the tune of 20 million shared images a day — and that was on iOS devices exclusively, given Snapchat's Android app hadn't launched until October 29, 2012. The company was founded by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. Now, however, Snapchat itself is technically owned by another company.

In the same way that Alphabet owns Google — which itself owns many major brands — Snapchat is owned by a parent company called Snap Inc. The company's name was originally Snapchat Inc., but it was renamed once it began branching into other areas, like wearables. As of this writing, nothing in Snap Inc.'s wearable product line has warranted a spot in our list of the coolest wearables you can buy, but Snap Inc. does own and operate the well-known Snapchat and Bitmoji brands, as well as Spectacles and Looksery. 

Spiegel is the company's CEO, while Murphy is its CTO. However, Brown was ousted from the company early on; following a lawsuit, he was ultimately paid a settlement of $158 million before he stopped making public appearances entirely. Snap Inc. (SNAP) is publicly traded, but its founders still have overwhelming voting control over the company. In a 2026 SEC report, Spiegel and Murphy are described as having "99% of the voting power," given the size of their holdings. Even if they were fired from their respective roles, they would still be able to "exercise the same significant voting power" on matters relating to the business.

Because Snap Inc. is publicly traded, we can see a top-level view of the various companies — mostly asset management and investment firms — that have invested in Snap Inc. Currently, FMR, LLC holds the most shares (88.74 million of them, to be exact), which are valued at $401,113,865. Other companies include Vanguard, whose Capital Management and Portfolio Management divisions own 47.69 million and 46.65 million shares, respectively. Other notable firms that hold substantial SNAP stock include JP Morgan (26.5 million shares) and BlackRock Inc. (47.26 million shares), the latter of which is a company that owns large chunks of many other major tech brands.

That said, the CEO and CTO of Snap Inc. both hold significant voting power by owning several classes of SNAP stock. For reference, Class A SNAP stocks are "non-voting" stocks, while Class B and Class C common stock holders can vote on matters relating to the business. However, one Class B stock is worth one vote, while a single Class C stock is worth 10 votes. Spiegel holds 53.1% of all voting power at Snap, Inc.; he owns 2.1% of all Class A stocks, 26% of all Class B stocks, and 53.4% of all Class C stocks. In a similarly large slice of ownership, Murphy owns 46% of the company and holds 4.2%, 26%, and 46.6% of the company's entire Class A, B, and C stocks, respectively.

The company has also largely stood its ground against purchase offers. In 2017, it was reported that Google had waved around $30 billion to snatch up Snap Inc., and four years prior to that in 2013, Meta (then Facebook) tried to buy it for $3 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, in retaliation against the rebuffed sale, replicated several features from Snapchat — including face filters, vanishing messages, and stories — to integrate them with Instagram. Regardless, Snap Inc. is currently focused on beating Apple to the punch in the realm of high-priced AR glasses.