Frank
Slootman,
CEO
of
Snowflake,
on
the
day
of
the
company’s
initial
public
offering
on
Sept.
16,
2020.
CNBC
Snowflake
said
on
Wednesday
that
billionaire
CEO
Frank
Slootman,
who
joined
the
cloud
software
company
in
2019
and
took
it
public
the
following
year,
is
retiring
and
will
be
replaced
by
former
Google
ad
chief
Sridhar
Ramaswamy.
Shares
of
Snowflake
plunged
24%
in
extended
trading.
Slootman,
65,
previously
led
software
vendor
ServiceNow
into
the
public
markets
and
before
that,
led
Data
Domain.
But
Snowflake
was
his
biggest
endeavor
and
became
the
largest
software
initial
public
offering
ever
when
it
hit
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
in
2020
and
more
than
doubled
in
its
debut.
Slootman
will
remain
chairman
of
the
board.
Ramaswamy,
57,
spent
15
years
at
Google,
most
recently
leading
the
ads
and
commerce
business
until
2018.
He
then
left
to
co-found
Neeva
in
2019,
a
consumer
search
engine
he
hoped
to
rival
Google
until
last
year,
when
he
announced
the
company
was
shutting
down
its
product.
Snowflake acquired Neeva
in
June
for
$185
million,
according
to
a
filing.
“There
is
no
better
person
than
Sridhar
to
lead
Snowflake
into
this
next
phase
of
growth
and
deliver
on
the
opportunity
ahead
in
AI
and
machine
learning,”
Slootman
said
in
a
statement.
“He
is
a
visionary
technologist
with
a
proven
track
record
of
running
and
scaling
successful
businesses.”
Snowflake
also
released
fourth-quarter
financial
results.
Sales
increased
32%
year
over
year
to
$774.7
million
during
the
period.
Product
revenue
for
the
fourth
quarter
was
$738.1
million,
a
33%
increase
from
the
previous
year.
Operating
losses
for
the
fourth
quarter
were
$275.5
million,
up
from
$239.8
million
during
the
fourth
quarter
of
the
previous
year.
The
company
said
product
revenue
in
the
first
quarter
will
be
between
$745
million
and
$750
million,
lower
than
the
$759
million
analysts
were
expecting,
according
to
StreetAccount.
Additionally,
Snowflake
said
its
first-quarter
adjusted
operating
margin
would
be
3%,
compared
to
analysts’
estimates
of
7.2%.
Slootman’s
total
compensation
in
2023
amounted
to
$23.7
million,
almost
entirely
from
stock
and
option
awards.
As
of
Feb.
9,
Slootman
owned
10.6
million
Snowflake
shares,
according
to
a
regulatory
filing.
At
Wednesday’s
close,
that
stake
would
be
worth
about
$2.4
billion.
Prior
to
Slootman’s
arrival
at
Snowflake,
the
company
was
led
by
former
Microsoft
executive
Bob
Muglia,
who
built
it
up
to
a
$4
billion
valuation.
Muglia
was
ousted
suddenly
in
April
2019
and
replaced
by
Slootman.
The
company
had
a
market
cap
of
$75
billion
on
Wednesday
prior
to
the
after-hours
plunge.
—
CNBC’s
Jennifer
Elias
and
Jordan
Novet
contributed
to
this
report.
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