The executive in charge of Snapchat's media efforts, including Discover, is leaving the company.
Snap's vice president of content Nick Bell announced on Monday he is leaving the company. Over the last five years, Bell led efforts to build out Snapchat's media vertical Discover, as well as its Live video division. He also led its recent strategy to invest in more original programming.
"We are so grateful for Nick and everything he has built at Snap," CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement. "It has been an incredible journey that began with our vision for what content could be on mobile. Today, more people are watching more premium content on Snap than ever before, and we couldn't be more excited about the momentum we are seeing with Snap Originals. We will miss Nick, and we wish him all the best."
Jared Grusd, who joined the company as chief strategy officer in October, will take over Bell's duties alongside senior director of content progrmaming Sean Mills and director of corporate and business development of content David Brinker.
Bell was previously senior vice president of digital at News Corp. He intends to take some time off before his next venture.
Bell said he would stay at Snap "as long as I feel super excited about the company and as long as I feel super excited about what I'm doing day to day," according to a Recode Media podcast from October.
"Right now I'm having a blast and I'm excited about this stuff we're launching towards the end of this year," he said at the time.
See Bell's note to staff below.
Subject: Personal Update
After nearly 5 years and a once in a lifetime ride, I have let Evan know that I am leaving Snap to take some time off to recharge before deciding on my next adventure.
From my very first meeting with Evan, I knew this was going to be an extraordinary journey. Thanks to the hard work of our amazing team, we have built Discover into a world-leading media platform. We have established vertical video as the industry standard, built hugely successful partnerships with some of the world's best media companies and storytellers, produced incredible stories, launched a fantastic slate of Original Shows and built a robust advertising business. This experience has been incredibly rewarding and an absolute blast. I leave now with amazing memories, many lifelong friendships, and a huge amount of excitement for the future of Snap.
Although I am announcing this news today, I will be transitioning out of the role between now and the end of the year. I am so proud of all that we have achieved together at Snap, and most proud of the team I leave behind to continue to execute against the vision.
Thank you,
Nick
