Two Snap Executives Leaving Over Inappropriate Behavior With A Contractor

Two senior executives recently left Snap, the maker of disappearing messaging app Snapchat, for allegedly conducting inappropriate relationships with a contractor that was outside the company.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter, Francis Racioppi, head of global security at Snap, was fired at the end of 2018 after law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher found via an investigation that he had a relationship with a woman he hired and then ended the contract once the relationship ended. Racioppi told The Wall Street Journal that he has lawyered up and will challenge the “veracity of the investigation as well as the results.” He said he hadn’t engaged in inappropriate conduct and that he was looking for new jobs before he even knew there was an investigation.

Meanwhile, the WSJ reported that Jason Halbert, the head of human resources at Snap, announced he was leaving. While Halbert wasn’t involved in the situation directly, he did recruit Racioppi, who reported to him. Because of that and performance issues, Snap’s chief executive Evan Spiegel asked Halbert to step down, the people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. Halbert came on board at Snap four years and will stay on until a replacement is found.  Departures among Snap’s executive ranks have been spooking investors and putting more pressure on the CEO to improve the leadership at the company. Tim Stone, the chief financial officer of Snap, announced last week he is leaving. He wasn’t on the job for an entire year before announcing his resignation. Stone was an executive at Amazon before joining Snap.

The announcement of Stone’s departure, which the company said had nothing to do with a disagreement, sent the stock lower last week, which hurt Stone’s compensation. People familiar with the matter reported last year Stone went around Spiegel and asked the board for a big pay raise. He also wanted more operational duties and a bigger role at the company. People familiar with the matter told the WSJ that Stone was frustrated as the decline in Snap’s stock reduced his compensation by more than half — and because Jeremi Gorman was hired as chief business officer and received a bigger pay package.  The paper noted that Spiegel didn’t expect Stone to resign and was surprised by the move.