Snapchat settlement resolves ownership dispute

Messaging service Snapchat has ended a bitter dispute over the app’s origins in a private settlement. In a legal battle that has extended for over a year, Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegal and CTO Bobby Murphy have acknowledged that the idea for the company included ousted Co-Founder Frank Reginald ‘Reggie’ Brown IV.

With the company now valued at least $10 billion, Brown claimed to own one-third of the company alongside the two Founders as the original idea came when the three had been students at Stanford University, and that Spiegal and Murphy had kicked him out just one month before the app launched in July 2011.

“We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter in a manner that is satisfactory to Mr. Brown and the company,” says Evan. “We acknowledge Reggie’s contribution to the creation of Snapchat and appreciate his work in getting the application off the ground.”

Terms of the settlement have not been made public.