DHAKA: Snapchat, the mobile messaging app that’s popular with teens, hired a Bangladesh-origin star tech banker to help young chief executive Evan Spiegel justify the startup’s multibillion-dollar valuation.
The startup named Imran Khan, the former head of Internet banking at Credit Suisse, as its first Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), a Snapchat spokeswoman said. Imran will report directly to CEO Evan Spiegel, she said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Snapchat’s hiring Imran Khan on December 9.
Imran was a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking division, based in New York. He was the Head of Global Internet Investment Banking, responsible for coverage of many of the world’s most disruptive technology companies
Snapchat could benefit from Khan’s experience as both a dealmaker and a well-regarded Internet stock analyst. After joining Credit Suisse in 2011, he helped the firm regain its prominence in tech banking.
Aided by Khan’s network of contacts in Asia, the bank won roles advising on the initial public offerings of Weibo, Jumei and Alibaba.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Khan covered Internet companies as an analyst for J.P Morgan Chase & Co. While in that role, he became interested in China and took American investors on trips to meet executives at Chinese Internet companies including Alibaba, Sohu.com and Baidu Inc.
Imran advised on more than USD 45 billion of internet M&A and financing transactions, including Alibaba Group’s repurchase of 20% stake back from Yahoo! for USD 7.6 billion, the sale of Toudu to Youku, and Warburg Pincus’s acquisition of Endurance International. Imran also advised Alibaba on its USD 25 billion IPO, the largest IPO in history, and worked on the IPOs of Zalando, Weibo, King, Everyday Health, Border Free, Groupon and Rocket Fuel.
Tencent, one of China’s largest Internet giants, is an investor in Snapchat, and Spiegel has publicly praised that company’s strategy of monetizing its own mobile messaging service, WeChat, by selling add-ons within the app.
Imran joins an executive team that includes two former Facebook executives. Emily White left the social network to become Snapchat’s operating chief last year and Mike Randall became vice president of business and marketing partnerships earlier this year.
Imran Khan, who had been based in New York, will relocate to Los Angeles to be near the company’s Venice Beach headquarters, the company said.
Imran joined Credit Suisse in May 2011 from JP Morgan where he was ranked one of the top internet and media equity analysts by Institutional Investor and was the IPO analyst for companies including Google, Shutterfly, Dice, Mercadolibre, Orbitz, and Shanda.
Imran Khan, a former student of Government Laboratory High School in Dhaka and Dhaka College, holds B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Denver.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Techonomy, Photo: Bidness Etc
BDST: 1447 HRS, DEC 19, 2014
