If turning down the previous acquisition offers of $3 billion (or $4 billion, depending on the source) didn’t convince you that Snapchat is becoming a force to be reckoned with, this next move will. It wasn’t too long ago that Emily White moved from Facebook to Instagram, and now she’s heading over to Snapchat to be second-in-command to CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel. Considering that Mark Zuckerberg tried to buy Snapchat recently, it’s going to sting to have a key person from Instagram (owned by Facebook) make such a move.
White has a lot of experience in the online advertising space, initially at Google, then at Facebook and Instagram, being instrumental in bringing ads to the latter.
Without a doubt, she’ll help Snapchat continue on it’s path taking on the mobile messaging scene. It’ll also be interesting to see if she grows into a high-profile COO like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.
Instagram Business Lead Emily White to Be Named COO of Snapchat
“It happened really quickly, but to have an actual COO role in one of many companies that is disrupting the communications arena is one I could not pass up,” she said. “I have always been captivated by the creativity that has gone into the product … and I think that Evan has been looking for someone who can help him grow and scale what is already something that has changed a lot of the way people think about the mobile experience.”
“Instagram has great leadership in place and this is not me walking away from anything but an A+ management team,” said White. “But I am about to learn a lot about the way communication is happening right now and am excited to help grow it into a big business.”
The good news is that she seems to have left Instagram on good terms.
Said Systrom of her departure in a statement: “I cannot thank Emily enough for her contributions to Instagram. She was tasked with getting the first ads products out the door — and she did that beautifully. Instagram is in an even better place today because of her efforts and we thank her.”
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