SNAP provides forward guidance on Revenue ($M) and Adjusted EBITDA ($M, non-GAAP). Guidance is sourced from 8-K press releases and investor letters filed with SEC EDGAR. Actual results use figures from the subsequent earnings report. Verdicts are dynamically computed: Exceeded = actual strictly above guidance high; Met = actual within range (inclusive); Not Met = actual below guidance low. For Adjusted EBITDA, "better" means higher (less negative or more positive). SNAP first issued quantifiable quarterly guidance starting Q3 2018 (from Q2 2018 earnings, Aug 2018). No formal guidance was provided during COVID uncertainty (Q2–Q4 2020) and macro headwinds (Q3 2022–Q2 2023). Source URLs link to SEC EDGAR filings.
Click column headers to sort. All monetary values in USD millions.
| Quarter ▾ | Date | Metric ▾ | Guidance Low ▾ | Guidance High ▾ | Guidance Mid | Actual ▾ | Δ vs Mid | Verdict ▾ | Source |
|---|
From 8-K press releases and investor letters filed with SEC EDGAR.
| Quarter | Revenue ($M) | Adj. EBITDA ($M) | DAU (M) | Source |
|---|
As part of Snap's March 2, 2017 IPO, Evan Spiegel received one of the largest post-IPO CEO grants in tech history: a ~37.4 million RSU "CEO Award" — roughly 3% of outstanding shares — vesting quarterly over three years at an IPO-price value near $637M. He also personally sold 16 million shares at the $17 IPO price for ~$272M on day one. In the years since, Spiegel has been a systematic seller through Rule 10b5-1 plans.
Every figure below aggregated directly from SEC Form 4 XML filings under Snap Inc. CIK 1564408 / Spiegel CIK 1699293 (Mar 2017 – Apr 2026). Includes all "S" (sale) transactions; excludes gifts, RSU deliveries, and tax-withholding dispositions.
| Year | Shares Sold | Cash Proceeds | Avg Price | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 18,392,629 | $302.6M | ~$16.45 | IPO day (Mar 7): 16.0M @ $17.00 = $272.0M; Nov 9: 1.65M @ $12.42; Dec 1: 739K @ $13.63 |
| 2018 | 8,657,986 | $117.9M | ~$13.62 | Stock collapsed post-IPO. Feb ($50.1M @ $18.72), Mar ($25.4M @ $16.91), Jun ($16.8M @ $11.46), Sep ($16.1M @ $10.57), Dec ($9.6M @ $6.43) |
| 2019 | 12,360,550 | $167.8M | ~$13.58 | Mar (4.4M sh @ $9.89–10.04), Jun (1.5M @ $11.74), Jul (2.78M @ $18.01), Sep (2.1M @ $15.87), Dec (1.5M @ $14.62) |
| 2020 | 17,924,018 | $347.7M | ~$19.40 | Pandemic rally year. Jan ($50.1M), Mar ($20.7M), May ($65.1M @ $16.80), Jun ($78.0M), Sep ($133.8M as stock crossed $22) |
| 2021 | 8,775,221 | $610.2M | ~$69.54 | Peak year. 14 large transactions Apr–Oct at $60–$81. Single biggest: Sep 23 (0.70M @ $80.76 = $56.2M). Stock ATH ~$83 Sep 2021. |
| 2022 | 500,000 | $9.2M | ~$18.40 | Only two sales: Apr 25 (250K @ $29.25) and Oct 24 (250K @ $7.54). Stock crashed 80% from peak. |
| 2023 | 300,000 | $2.9M | ~$9.66 | Two 150K tranches (Sep @ $10.34, Oct @ $8.98) under 10b5-1 plan adopted Mar 9, 2023. |
| 2024 | 600,000 | $7.0M | ~$11.71 | Four 150K tranches (Feb $11.11, Apr $14.35, Aug $8.85, Oct $12.52). Sep 10, 2024 plan adopted. |
| 2025 | 6,816,655 | $52.0M | ~$7.62 | Pace ramped. Feb (150K), then Aug 11 (2.74M @ $7.31 = $20.0M), Aug 13 (1.41M @ $7.27), Dec 5 (1.26M @ $8.01), Dec 30 (1.26M @ $8.00). Plans Sep 4 & Dec 10, 2025. |
| 2026 YTD (Apr) | 2,220,165 | $15.1M | ~$6.80 | Jan 5 (1.22M @ $8.25 = $10.1M) + Apr 8 (1.00M @ $5.04 = $5.0M — lowest exec sale price in 9 years). Trust account. |
| TOTAL 2017–Apr 2026 | 76,547,224 | ~$1,632M | ~$21.32 | All "S" code transactions from 54 Form 4 filings |
Sources: SEC EDGAR Form 4 XML filings (raw ownershipDocument data); aggregated from 54 individual Form 4 submissions 2017–2026. Verified against secform4.com and openinsider.com.
Four successive pre-arranged trading plans have governed Spiegel's disposal pattern since 2023: Mar 9, 2023 (initial, 150K quarterly) → Sep 10, 2024 (modified May 2, 2025) → Sep 4, 2025 (larger tranches) → Dec 10, 2025 (active Apr 2026). Before 2023, sales were ad-hoc and not pre-planned — which explains the ~8.8M share sell-down at 2021 price peaks.
Both founders sold 16M shares at IPO ($272M each). Murphy did not receive a CEO Award — the $637M RSU grant was unique to Spiegel's CEO role. Historical peak (2021) net worth: Spiegel ~$6.9B vs. Murphy ~$7.9B. By 2024: Spiegel ~$3–4B, Murphy ~$2.4B.
At 22, Evan Spiegel turned down Mark Zuckerberg's $3B offer with the confidence of someone who'd never failed. At 35, with three children, he's betting everything on consumer AR glasses and AI — but doing it with a team, a real CFO, and public humility about what he doesn't know. The arc is not a "founder learns humility" morality tale. It's more interesting: a brilliant designer with conviction discovered that scaling requires communication, that certainty invites failure, and that being a father means thinking about whose world you're building.
Snap's monetization story is one of asymmetry: North America generates 8–9x the per-user revenue of Rest of World, and that gap is widening, not shrinking. Meanwhile, subscription revenue has quietly become a $1B ARR business with 25M+ Snapchat+ subscribers — a structural profit stream independent of the ad cycle.
| Region | Q3 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q4 2025 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | $8.54 | $9.73 | $10.88 | Strong DR ads + Snapchat+ concentration |
| Europe | $2.52 | $2.89 | ~$2.75 | Flat; limited DR maturity |
| Rest of World | $1.09 | $1.19 | ~$1.15 | Massive DAU, thin monetization |
| Global | $3.06 | $3.44 | $3.62 | +5% YoY Q1; continued expansion in Q4 |
Launched June 2022 at $3.99/mo. Since expanded to a tiered stack: Snapchat+ ($3.99) → Lens+ ($8.99, Jun 2025) → Snapchat Platinum ($15.99 ad-free, early 2025). Subscription revenue compounded at ~62–75% YoY through 2025. At current trajectory, subscriptions materially reduce dependence on the ad cycle.
Snap frames itself as more agile post-ATT than Meta — smaller scale (~400M DAU) allows faster platform rebuilds and A/B testing of new ad formats. Management's bet: in a world where privacy frameworks keep tightening, first-party data and on-platform conversion tracking win.
Between 2022 and 2026, Snap moved from a cash-burning growth company to its first profitable GAAP quarter (Q4 2025, +$45M net income). The transition required two rounds of layoffs, a 65% compute cost reduction, and tight infrastructure discipline.
Cost per DAU dropped from $0.84 (Q4 2023) to $0.80 (Q1 2024), then stabilized at $0.80–0.85 (Q2–Q3 2024) as AI inference spend picked up. FY2026 infrastructure guidance: $1.6–1.65B — calibrated to regional ARPU potential rather than uniform global spend. Full-year FY2026 adjusted opex ~$3.0B.
| Year | Operating Cash Flow | Free Cash Flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2022 | — | $55M | — |
| FY2023 | $247M | $35M | −37% |
| FY2024 | $413M | $219M | +528% |
| FY2025 | Continued positive | Continued growth | — |
Three consecutive years of positive operating cash flow. Q4 2025 was the first GAAP profitable quarter with $45M net income and 2.9% operating margin. FY2026 gross margin target: 60%+ (achieved 59% Q4 2025), with management stating a "clear path to exceed" via subscription scale, higher-margin ad placements, and infrastructure leverage.
Sources: Snap Q4 2025 earnings call (Fool.com), investor.snap.com Q4 2025 results, TechCrunch Snapchat+ 25M milestone (Feb 2026), Axios (2022 layoffs), CNN Business (2024 layoffs), MacroTrends FCF data, ByteSized Design on 65% compute reduction.