Michael Lynton stepped down as the CEO of Sony Entertainment earlier this year to focus on his role as the chairman of camera-based social network Snap Inc. — and the well-compensated former studio boss just became a whole lot richer.
Snap had its long-awaited IPO Thursday, which saw its shares skyrocket 44 percent from their $17 a share offering price, valuing the company at $28.3 billion. That’s more than Dish Network, nearly two times as much as Viacom, and almost triple the market cap of Twitter. And if its stock rises modestly in the near future, Snap could pass Nintendo and CBS.
Lynton holds 2,964,733 shares in Snap, which are valued at a cool $72.6 million at the company’s first-day closing price of $24.48 a share. He also sold nearly $1 million worth of stock in the IPO.
The former studio chief joined Snap’s board in April 2013 and became its chairman in September 2016. Lynton bought 293,340 shares of Snap’s Series C preferred stock in January 2014, paying about $3.41 a share for a total price of nearly $1 million.
Lynton stepped down from Sony in January after 13 years at the studio, which has struggled in recent years to keep up with its competition. Sony finished 2016 fifth out of major studios by domestic market share and is seventh thus far in 2017 — although its “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” has been a massive hit in China and other Asian markets. He’s now focused on a new challenge, and has been compensated handsomely to do so.