Feb 28, 2024,06:36pm EST
Closing down nearly 2% on Wednesday at $230, Snowflake’s stock experienced a significant drop in after-hours trading, falling as much as 24% to approximately $173.
Slootman, a pivotal figure in Snowflake’s journey for nearly five years and instrumental in its historic IPO, will transition to the role of the company’s board chairman. Succeeding him as CEO is Sridhar Ramaswamy, Snowflake’s senior vice president of AI and a former executive of Google’s advertising products division.
While Slootman did not specify the reasons for his retirement in the statement, he expressed confidence in Ramaswamy’s leadership, particularly in driving Snowflake’s advancements in artificial intelligence. The decline in Snowflake’s stock erases the gains made in February, starting at $199 and reaching as high as $236 per share by mid-month. TANGENT Snowflake also released its fourth-quarter earnings, reporting $774.7 million in sales and $738.1 million in product revenue, marking a 32% and 33% year-over-year increase, respectively.
FORBES VALUATION Slootman’s estimated net worth stands at $3.7 billion, bolstered significantly by his previous sale of storage startup Data Domain in 2009 for $1.8 billion.
KEY BACKGROUND Slootman is renowned for leading Snowflake to its record-breaking IPO in 2020, valued at $64.9 billion. With a track record of taking three companies public, including Data Domain and ServiceNow, he has left an indelible mark in the software industry. ServiceNow, boasting a $155.7 billion market capitalization, reported $295 million in net income in its latest earnings report.