After Tim Stone revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that he was leaving as chief financial officer of Snap Inc. after only eight months on the job, he gave the old standby reasoning of wanting “to pursue other opportunities.”
However, it turns out Stone’s departure is reportedly for a different tried-and-true reason: He wanted more money, but was rebuffed by Snap’s board of directors. According to a Bloomberg report, Stone actually went around Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel and appealed directly to the board for a pay raise, but the board turned down his request.
Stone’s actions “sparked tension” between he and Spiegel, according to Bloomberg, which led to his departure. Bloomberg notes that the board wouldn’t even have had the power to approve a pay raise for Stone since Spiegel and co-founder Bobby Murphy retain majority voting control at the company.
Stone’s annual salary was $500,000, but Business Insider reported earlier that Stone was actually brought on with a $20-million compensation package that was scheduled to vest over several years. He is now forfeiting almost all of that pay by leaving.
Stone joined Snap last May after a 20-year career at Amazon, last serving as VP of finance at the e-commerce giant. He replaced Drew Vollero, who recently became CFO of Allied Universal.
In addition to a salary hike, Stone had also “asked to be promoted into a chief operating officer-type role,” according to Bloomberg, following the departure of Imran Khan, chief strategy officer and the No. 2 executive at Snap Inc., who left the company last year. That request was also denied.
Snap’s shares plunged 14 percent on Wednesday, which Bloomberg notes was its steepest drop since May. It’s stock has now fallen 58 percent over the last year, as the future of the struggling company remains in doubt.
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