(Bloomberg) -- Snap Inc. was sued by a former employee who says the company, parent of the Snapchat social-media app, was inflating growth metrics ahead of a planned initial public offering.
Anthony Pompliano, who was hired from Facebook Inc. in 2015 to focus on user growth and engagement, said he was fired after he refused to go along with the figures that made the company look better than it actually was, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court document redacts information about the disputed metrics.
Snap says the lawsuit is without merit. The company has been planning an IPO for as soon as March that could value it around $25 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.
"We've reviewed the complaint,” Mary Ritti, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Thursday. “It has no merit. It is totally made up by a disgruntled former employee."
Pompliano says he was recruited from Facebook based on the false metrics, and when he urged Snapchat to correct them, he was fired after only three weeks on the job, according to the complaint. He also believes he was hired so Snap would receive confidential information about Facebook, which he refused to give, he said. The incident has prevented him from finding employment elsewhere, he says.
Pompliano didn't respond to a request for comment.
The case is Pompliano v. Snap Inc., BC645641, Los Angeles County Superior Court.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz
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