By Denny Jacob
Snowflake shares fell 20% in extended-hours trading after the cloud-data company provided a weak sales outlook for the current year and said Frank Slootman has retired as chief executive, effective immediately.
Slootman had been Snowflakes CEO since 2019 and led the company through its initial public offering ( in 2020, one of techs biggest IPOs that year ( The 65-year-old will continue to serve as chairman, Snowflake said.
He will be replaced by Sridhar Ramaswamy, who previously served as senior vice president of artificial intelligence. Earlier, Ramaswamy led Googles advertising products ( which included search, display and video advertising, among other items.
Snowflake shares recently traded at $183, down 20% from the stock’s 4 p.m. close.
News of the CEO change came as the company reported its fourth-quarter results and provided an outlook for 2025. Here are the highlights:
— Fourth-quarter sales rose 32% to $774.7 million, surpassing the average analyst estimate on FactSet.
— The companys loss narrowed in the fourth quarter. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, the company had earnings of 35 cents a share, above the FactSet estimate.
— The company projected product revenue of up to $750 million in the first quarter and $3.25 billion for the year, both below FactSet estimates.