Snapchat cofounder Evan Spiegel just became $800 million richer.
The 26-year-old CEO has been officially awarded roughly 37 million additional company shares, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC. At Snap Inc.'s closing share price of $21.44 on Tuesday, Spiegel's bonus is worth roughly $800 million.
Before Snap's IPO, the company explained that Spiegel's so-called CEO award was intended to "motivate him to continue growing our business and improving our financial results so that we could undertake an initial public offering, which we regard as an important milestone that will provide liquidity to our stockholders and employees.”
Spiegel has fulfilled his end of the bargain now that Snap has gone public. The fully-vested shares, which total about 3% of Snap's outstanding stock, will be given to him in increments over a period of three years. The bonus places his net worth, which is almost entirely based on Snap's share price, at close to $5.5 billion.
Provided that Spiegel or cofounder Bobby Murphy don't sell additional shares, Spiegel's 3% stock award will also mean that he gets the most voting power at Snap after three years. Currently, he and Murphy each wield 50% of Snap's Class-C shares, which come with 10-1 voting rights. The company's publicly traded Class-A shares come with no voting rights.
SEE ALSO: 'Right now we're just celebrating': Inside Snap's crazy $33 billion IPO
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: The fabulous and charmed life of 26-year-old self-made billionaire, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel