Two Snap Executives Depart Following Internal Investigation Into An “Inappropriate Relationship” — Report
Snap forced out two senior executives following an internal investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship involving an outside contractor, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The company fired Francis Racioppi, its head of global security, after an investigation into his relationship with a contractor, the Journal reported, citing sources. Racioppi allegedly had an affair with a woman, whom he hired, then terminated her contract once the relationship ended, according to the report.
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Snap’s head of human resources, Jason Halbert, also announced plans to leave the company this week. Although he wasn’t directly involved in the situation he recruited Racioppi, who reported to him, according to the Journal.
Racioppi told the journal he had done nothing wrong and planned to hire an attorney to challenge the findings. The company declined Deadline’s request for comment.
The departures mark the latest in a wave of executive exits from the ephemeral messaging company. Earlier this week, CFO Tim Stone stepped down after just eight months on the job. The former Amazon veteran’s departure shook up Wall Street, which punished the company’s stock, even as analysts raised questions about the company’s future.
“We jumped off the “Sell” SNAP train prematurely last May at $10.58 when Tim Stone was named to be the new CFO,” wrote MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson. “After a disastrous year of post IPO missteps, we figured that much of the bad news was in the stock and that a new CFO coming from Amazon would quickly right the stock price, if not the operations. That hasn’t exactly been the case.”
The influential analyst knocked Snap for an array of missteps, including failing to build an appealing Android app for non-U.S. users, failing to grow its U.S. user base for consumers over the age of 35, and for moving too slowly to adopt an auction based ad system.
There’s been tremendous instability in Snap’s executive ranks. Other executives stepping off include former chief strategy officer, Imran Kahn, vice president of content, Nick Bell, head of global strategic partnerships, Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, and the previous CFO, Drew Vollero.
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