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12/22/2024 07:57:37 pm

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Ex-Apple Executive Scott Forstall Working As Advisor For Snapchat

Snapchat is one of the most valuable startups in Silicon Valley, meaning it attracts a lot of attention from tech companies and executives. The latest pickup, which happened sometime in 2014, brought ex-Apple head of mobile services Scott Forstall on board.

Several employees received small stock payments of 10,000 (0.22 percent) in 2014 from Snapchat, possibly as payment but more likely as a bonus for another successful year. These stock bonuses were revealed by WikiLeaks as part of the huge Sony Pictures leak, revealing thousands of internal documents reportedly stolen by the North Korean government.

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Forstall received 0.11 percent for 2014 as an advisor, which at the current value would be $16.5 million of stock. Several other advisors received similar packages, and VP of Engineering Peter Magnusson would have received 0.5 percent, valued around $75 million, but he left before he was able to cash in after six months.

Snapchat commented on the Scott Forstall as advisor, claiming it had a lot of advisors on board and did not disclose what they worked on. Knowing Forstall's past, UX design and back-end development would be his area of expertise at Snapchat.

For those that don't remember, Forstall left Apple in 2012 after not signing an apology to customers over the Apple Maps disaster. He was one of Steve Jobs' most trusted advisors, coming from NeXT to Apple in 1996 and leading the iOS Software team from 2007 to 2012.

Reports said at the time of leaving, his relationship with the management had grown sour due to Steve Jobs not having his back in key iOS decisions. Forstall was seen as a mini-Steve Jobs as many in the company thought he would be next in line as CEO once Jobs died, but a year before his death, he handed the CEO position to Tim Cook.

Forstall had major issues with several executives at Apple including Jony Ive. In the years with Jobs, these active personalities were welcomed as part of an aggressive team, but under Tim Cook it was seen as too much hostility for anything good to happen in a workplace environment.

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