16-Year-Old Daughter of Billionaire Slack Cofounder Reported Missing After 'Running Away’

The 16-year-old daughter of billionaire Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield has disappeared and is feared to be in one of San Francisco’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Mint Butterfield was last seen on Sunday night around 10 p.m. in Bolinas, California, as per a missing poster spread across the Bay Area. Her mother, Flickr founder Caterina Fake, reported her missing on Monday to the San Francisco Standard. They were living with Fake at the time and attending a private boarding school in the Napa area, according to the sheriff’s office.

The missing poster described Mint as wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants, and black boots, possibly carrying a gray suitcase, according to Suarez's statement.

Although Mint is only 5 feet tall with curly, brown-red hair and pierced eyebrows, she is believed to have fled to Tenderloin, infamous for its violent crimes, homelessness, and open-air drug market in downtown San Francisco. Reports suggest Mint has a history of substance abuse and has visited Tenderloin before.

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office urged people to contact them with any information about Mint's whereabouts. Given her past troubles, she is thought to be familiar with the Tenderloin district.

It's unclear if Mint went to Tenderloin voluntarily this time or if she was abducted. The area is facing a crisis due to fentanyl abuse.

Mint's father, Butterfield, co-founded Slack, a messaging app acquired by Salesforce in 2021. He left the company in 2022 and is worth $1.6 billion. Fake, Mint's mother, co-created Flickr with Butterfield and later sold it to Yahoo in 2005. She has since been involved in tech startups as an investor.

Butterfield remarried to Jen Rubio, co-founder of Away, and Fake is now with Jaiku co-founder Jyri Engestrom. At the time of her disappearance, Mint was living with Fake and attending a boarding school in Napa.