Snap’s head of content jumps ship despite recent launch of Netflix-style original video
London entrepreneur Nick Bell has become the latest executive to leave Snap, as the vice president of content resigned only a month after launching the app's Netflix-style original service.
Bell informed employees of his departure yesterday, leaving behind just one member of Snap's leadership team from when the company went public last year, outside of its two co-founders.
He joined the firm in 2014, after spending five years at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, to lead the Discover section of the Snapchat app. In the appointment of a replacement for Snap's head of strategy at the end of October, it was announced that new executive Jared Grusd would be taking over Discover among other things.
The move took some by surprise, as Bell had said in an interview with Recode last month that he would be at Snap "as long as I feel super excited about what I'm doing day-to-day".
Snap's share price fell back to nearing its all-time low value last night, circling $6.59 at a three per cent loss after news of Bell's exit broke.
On 10 October, Snap announced it would be expanding into original content with 12 new shows lined up form the creators of popular TV staples such as Riverdale and Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Each of the 12 series will release new episodes daily, and be monetised by up to six seconds of unskippable advertisements.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel said in a statement sent to Cheddar late last night:
"We are so grateful for Nick and everything he has built at Snap.
"It has been an incredible journey that began with our vision for what content could be on mobile. Today, more people are watching more premium content on Snap than ever before, and we couldn't be more excited about the momentum we are seeing with Snap Originals. We will miss Nick, and we wish him all the best."