Who owns Snapchat?
Snapchat is owned by Snap (the United States, NYSE: SNAP).[1]
Evidence: Snap Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-05, SEC EDGAR, 5 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Snap Inc. verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Santa Monica, California
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, Stanford, California
- Founded
- 2011
- Category
- Internet & digital › Digital services › Email & messaging
- Parent ticker
- NYSE: SNAP
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Snapchat
Snapchat made messages that delete themselves after viewing, an idea competitors first mocked and then copied wholesale as Stories. It remains the dominant messaging app among American teenagers despite Instagram replicating most of its features. Its Stories format, in which posts vanish after a day, was copied by Instagram in 2016 and then by almost every other platform, which materially slowed Snap's own growth.
Ownership timeline of Snapchat
Where Snapchat sits in Snap
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Snap ownership tree →
See the full Snap brand portfolio (2) →
Other brands owned by Snap
Snap controls 2 brands on Brandtree, 2 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
- Bitmoji (2014)
Other brands in email & messaging, and who owns them
Snap has more brands in email & messaging on Brandtree than any other owner: 2 of 18.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Messenger | Meta | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Firefox Relay | Mozilla | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Mail.ru Email | VK | 🇷🇺 Russia |
| Gmail | Alphabet | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Yahoo Mail | Apollo | 🇺🇸 United States |
| KakaoTalk | Kakao | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| LINE | LY Corporation | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Skype | Microsoft | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Snap
Snap is a publicly listed company headquartered in Santa Monica, California, United States, founded in 2011. Brandtree records 2 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: SNAP.
Snap was founded by Stanford students in 2011 and turned down a reported $3 billion offer from Facebook in 2013. It describes itself as a camera company, and its disappearing messages changed the default assumption that everything posted online is permanent.
🇺🇸 Snapchat and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Snapchat is not one of them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Snapchat?
The parent company of Snapchat is Snap, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is Snapchat American?
Yes. Snapchat originated in the United States in 2011 and its owner, Snap, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is Snapchat still owned by Snap?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Snapchat is still owned by Snap. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Snap Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-05 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 5 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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