It seems that the creators of the temporary picture sharing app, Snapchat, learned nothing from the Facebook founding and equity chaos that surrounded Mark Zuckerberg. Creators, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, as well as alleged creator, Reggie Brown, have found themselves in an intense legal battle concerning who is owed what percentage of Snapchat’s $80 million worth. Spiegel and Murphy maintain that they had another joint company and renamed it Toyopa Group, LLC, which owned the early version of Snapchat, Picaboo. Both founders have stated that Brown had no equity in the company, despite their discussing the renaming together as well as the temporary picture concept being Brown’s idea. Brown initially offered a 40-40-20 split between Spiegel, Murphy, and himself respectively, but this compromise was never agreed on and Brown is currently suing for one third of Snapchat’s worth, which is currently valued at $267 million. One thing is for certain, this friendship has about as much chance of rekindling as you do getting a Snapchat to reappear so if you have a strong app or website idea, don’t risk relationships by making it with friends.
Tags: American Airlines, Bobby Murphy, Evan Spiegel, Legal Troubles, Mark Bunting, Mark Zuckerberg, Picaboo, Reggie Brown, SkyTV, Snapchat, Stanford, Toyopa Group LLC, USAir