He is also well known for his philanthropic pursuits, and has pledged to donate upwards of 13,000,000 shares of his company's Class A common stock over the next 15 to 20 years to an arts, education, and youth nonprofit. Interested in technology from a young age, Spiegel continues his passion today as Chief Executive Officer of Snapchat.

Each day, some 293 million people use Snapchat to send disappearing photos and video clips. Spiegel earned his fortune as the co-founder of Snapchat, the popular social media app that allows users to send messages that disappear shortly after being opened. Raised in Los Angeles, the 31-year-old entrepreneur is married to a supermodel, hobnobs with celebrities, and boasts a staggering net worth of $13.8 billion. Though, Snap has said in the past that it might eventually pivot to selling products in the metaverse as well.As one of the youngest self-made billionaires in recent years, Evan Spiegel seems to be living the dream. 'Our fundamental bet is that people actually love the real world: they want to be together in person with their friends.' 'One of the big overarching concepts people have is that a lot of those tools are designed to replace reality,' Spiegel told The Guardian. Earlier this year, Spiegel said in an interview with The Guardian that his company refuses to use the word 'metaverse,' dubbing it 'ambiguous and hypothetical.' It wasn't the first time the Snap founder has dissed the metaverse.

On Tuesday, Spiegel said that there is 'a clear fork in the road between VR and AR,' calling AR 'more immersive.' Last year, Snap unveiled its first pair of AR glasses. While VR takes the individual into a completely digitally recreated landscape, AR combines computer-generated content with the real world - meaning that in AR digital content is superimposed onto an individual's view of the real world. The Snap founder has chosen to focus his company on expanding into augmented reality versus a virtual reality.

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