Snapchat is without a doubt a social media phenomenon, the app etching its way onto the lives of millions who use it to document their day and connect with friends. But as it prepares to make its foray onto the public stock market, the company has been forced to make revelations that are raising eyebrows about its approach to diversity.
In official documents just made public, the company revealed that Joanna Coles, chief content officer of Hearst Magazine and former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, was the only woman on the nine-person board.
![Joanna Coles has made a strong impact on the magazine and television industries for decades.](/web/20170211023514im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/7/d/b/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu7d9l.png/1486687661072.jpg)
And according to Fortune, out of the five directors being paid for their roles (the others already own large amounts of Snap stock), Coles earned less money than her male counterparts by an entire decimal place.
In 2016, Coles was paid $110,866 (A$144,885) in total compensation, including a $35,000 salary retainer. The next lowest paid directors made almost ten times that amount, receiving $1.1 million (A$1.43 million) despite only being instated into their positions in October.
![26-year-old Spiegel, pictured with fiance Miranda Kerr sent infamous set of emails to his Stanford frat, seen as unsavoury.](/web/20170211023514im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/a/s/z/9/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gu7d9l.png/1486687661072.jpg)
The highest-paid director, AG Lafley, made $2.6 million (A$3.4 million) last year; receiving the majority of his compensation in stock: 167,762 shares worth more than $2.5 million (A$3.26 million), compared to Coles who has only 7488 shares.
While a Snap spokesperson declined to comment on specifics to Fairfax, it was noted that "the S-1 does not reflect Ms. Coles' latest grant, which was issued in January 2017."
The company says it is committed to diversity, but has not provided a breakdown of its near-2000 staff.
Instead, with a board of predominantly male entrepreneurs, Snapchat is trailing far behind its competitors, with 20 per cent female representation the average, according to Redfin. Interestingly, the app itself most popular with women, who make up 70 per cent of its users.
As for Coles, she isn't alone in copping a smaller package. A recent study by the University of Missouri and the University of Delaware indicated that "diverse" directors on boards (women and minorities) at more than 1800 US companies are paid three to nine per cent less than their "non-diverse" (white and male) counterparts.
But this male culture is the very thing that could work against companies. Twitter received backlash in 2013 for their all-male board, and in 2015 McKinsey & Company revealed that companies with boards in the top quartile of gender diversity were 15 per cent more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile.
Update: Snapchat has since amended its S-1 to include the compensation share grant that Coles received in January 2017.
Correction: This article originally stated there was a lack of ethnic diversity on the board. This was incorrect and we apologise for the error.