What is the ownership structure of Snopes?
Executive summary
Snopes began as the private project of founder David Mikkelson and over decades morphed into a small corporate entity whose ownership was contested for years; that dispute culminated in September 2022 when two shareholders, Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup, announced they had acquired 100% of the company [1] [2] [3]. Earlier claims that Proper Media—or its principals—held a controlling stake produced litigation and public controversy, with both sides presenting competing legal narratives before the 2022 buyout [4] [5].
1. Origins: a founder-owned site turned corporate entity
Snopes began in 1994 as an online folklore and urban-legend clearinghouse created by David and Barbara Mikkelson; over time the site was folded into a corporate structure (Bardav) and business arrangements with outside companies for hosting and ad services complicated the ownership picture [1] [6]. Barbara Mikkelson’s later exit and a sale of her shares to a third party set the stage for disputed claims about who ultimately held Bardav’s—and by extension Snopes’s—equity [7] [6].
2. The Proper Media era and the ownership fight
Proper Media, an adtech and web-services company co-founded by Chris Richmond, became closely involved with Snopes beginning around 2015–2016, first as a vendor and then as an alleged equity holder after buying Barbara Mikkelson’s interest; that transition ignited a legal fight between David Mikkelson and Proper Media or its principals over whether Proper Media (as a single corporate owner) or five individual investors held the stake, with courtroom filings and public fundraising underscoring the size of the dispute [8] [1] [4] [5]. Reporting at the time laid out two competing narratives: Mikkelson argued he remained the majority shareholder of Bardav, while Proper Media-aligned parties and other Bardav shareholders said the non-Mikkelson side held legitimate ownership claims [4] [5].
3. The 2022 resolution: two co‑owners consolidate control
Public announcements and contemporary coverage indicate the protracted ownership dispute ended in September 2022 when Snopes said board member Chris Richmond and fellow shareholder Drew Schoentrup acquired all remaining shares and consolidated ownership at 100 percent, with Richmond named CEO as David Mikkelson stepped down from the board and executive role [2] [3] [8]. Multiple outlets and the company’s own releases reported that Richmond and Schoentrup “bought out all other shareholders” and claimed the acquisition closed the ownership chapter that began in 2017 [8] [7].
4. What the public record shows — and doesn’t
The public record assembled from company statements, press releases and reporting establishes the headline fact that Richmond and Schoentrup claimed full ownership in 2022 and that Proper Media’s earlier involvement was central to the dispute [2] [4]. However, detailed corporate filings, stock-ownership ledgers, or court judgments that would map exactly how shares moved between entities, the economic terms of the buyout, or the current governance arrangements (board composition, voting rights, any shareholder agreements) are not included in the cited materials, so those specifics remain beyond what the provided reporting covers [3] [9].
5. Stakes, incentives and competing narratives
The long-running fight over Snopes’ ownership was not only a corporate dispute but also a flashpoint for broader debates about editorial independence, commercial partnerships and transparency in fact‑checking: critics and some staff worried that commercial players tied to adtech might influence the site’s direction, while Richmond and Schoentrup framed the 2022 consolidation as resolution and a path forward for the brand [4] [3]. Coverage of plagiarism controversies and staff concerns in prior years also fed skepticism about governance and accountability, underscoring why ownership matters for public trust even when a buyout is announced [6].