UPDATED 07:00 EDT / DECEMBER 17 2014

Sony leak exposes ‘secret’ goings-on at Snapchat

snapchat questions

On November 24th Sony Pictures Entertainment’s servers were hacked. Among the many leaks to appear online since then is the content of Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton’s inbox. Lynton is also a Snapchat investor and board member and several emails between him and other Snapchat investors and board members have been leaked, exposing a host of goings-on at Snapchat.

Last year, rumors emerged that Snapchat turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook. Today Valleywag reported on a leaked email exchange between Lynton and Malcolm Gladwell that indicates Snapchat turned down far more than the rumored $3 billion.

Gladwell asks Lynton about the widely rumored number: “Turned down 3 bil??? Are they insane?” Lynton won’t tell Gladwell the exact figure—but he lets Gladwell know that they turned down even more: “if you knew the real number you would book us all a suite at Bellvue. [sic]” “Good lord,” Gladwell responds.

Other leaked email exchanges reveal financial details of Snapchat’s AddLive acquisition and exposes a number of acquisitions and industry partnerships Snapchat has made recently, yet managed to keep secret.

Snapchat acquisitions and partnerships

 

An email exchange between Lynton and Snapchat executives reveals that Snapchat paid $30 million for AddLiveSnapchat acquired AddLive in June to power its real-time video chat feature without disclosing any details of the deal.

Snapchat quietly paid $15 million for Vergence Labs, whose core product is Epiphany Eyewear. Epiphany Eyewear is a Google Glass-like product that subtly records video with the press of a button on the side of the frame and then allows user to upload and edit the footage.

Snapchat bought a QR scanning and iBeacon startup, Scan.me for $14 million. In addition, an exchange with Twitter CEO Dick Costello hints at a possible collaboration between Twitter and Snapchat. Costello and Spiegel met in January to discuss “a couple big ideas we have about working with SnapChat.”

Evan Spiegel wants his own music label

 

As Business Insider reports, Snapchat wants to launch its own music label. On June 5, Spiegel met with Sony’s President of Global Digital Business, Dennis Kooker. In a subsequent email to Lynton, Krooker wrote that Spiegel “thinks every music service in the market is shit and he wants to be a curator.” He added, “He doesn’t want to build a music service but he would like to have a record label so he could focus on the artists that he wants to use the platform to promote.  He also wants to participate in the upside that he will create by promoting them on the platform.”

Snapchat CEO ruffled feathers at Tencent

 

Another leaked email between Lynton and fellow Snapchat board member Mitch Lasky of Benchmark Capital suggests Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, blew a round of funding in 2013 by ‘offending’ Tencent. The email exchange hints that the deal would have included Spiegel selling secondary shares in Snapchat, allowing him and his cofounder to bag $40 million. According to the email exchange, Tencent decided to pass on the funding round, as they were not comfortable with the terms of the deal.

Aside from the controversies surrounding Spiegel, Snapchat’s acquisitions, and partnerships with the likes of Twitter, could see it growing far beyond what it is today.

photo credit: ryan.nagelmann via photopin cc

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