After a long negotiation, Kansas City Royals owner David Glass concluded a deal to sell the defending World Champions to 25-year-old Evan Spiegel who co-founded social media application Snapchat in July 2011. Spiegel, who was named to the Forbes Fortune 400 September 30, 2015, paid $1 billion in cash plus $500 million in Snapchat stock to complete the transaction.
A gratified Spiegel announced, “Snapchat has acquired the Kansas City Royals in order to create a revolutionary marriage between sports and social media. This acquisition comes in tandem with a new initiative to take on social media competitor Vine in the space of instantaneous looping video.