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Snap shares plunge 30% in the wake of quarterly loss, layoffs

Snap reported a net loss of US$248 million for the December quarter on Feb. 6, 2024. CP/AP files Snap reported a net loss of US$248 million for the December quarter on Feb. 6, 2024. CP/AP files
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Shares of Snapchat parent Snap plunged on Tuesday after the company reported a loss in the final three months of 2023.

Snap reported a net loss of $248 million for the December quarter, an improvement from the same period in the prior year and a narrower loss than Wall Street analysts had expected. Still, shares fell around 30 per cent in after-hours trading Tuesday.

The company also said revenue from the quarter grew five per cent year-over-year to $1.36 billion, its of revenue gains after two earlier quarters of declines last year.

CEO Evan Spiegel attempted to strike an optimistic tone in the company鈥檚 earnings , saying, 鈥2023 was a pivotal year for Snap, as we transformed our advertising business and continued to expand our global community, reaching 414 million daily active users.鈥

But the report comes one day after the company announced 10 per cent of its staff, cutting around 500 jobs. The reductions signal that the company is still in cost-cutting mode after the company in 2022 laid off what was then 20 per cent of its workforce, around 1,200 employees, and another three per cent of its staff last year.

Snap said Monday that the layoffs were meant to 鈥渂est position our business to execute on our highest priorities鈥 and to 鈥減romote in-person鈥 work.

鈥淏ased on these numbers, yesterday鈥檚 layoffs appear more than necessary as the company will need to rethink its strategy, particularly in terms of monetization,鈥 Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, said in emailed commentary following the report.

Investors may be especially disappointed by Snap鈥檚 Tuesday results in the light of rival platform for the same period, reported last week, which indicated an improvement in the larger digital advertising market, Monteiro said.

鈥淪nap has failed to show the market its ability to capitalize on resilient ad spending across different parts of the economy,鈥 he said.

Snap has been working to improve its advertising technology and offerings, following changes Apple鈥檚 made to its app tracking policies in 2021 that delivered a hit to the business models of Snapchat, Facebook and other platforms.

Snapchat in November that would let Snapchat users click on Amazon ads on the app, shop and check out, all without leaving the platform. The tool appeared to be a bid to more readily compete with the e-commerce offerings of rivals like Instagram and TikTok and to make Snapchat more attractive to advertisers.

Snap on Tuesday also announced that its Snapchat+ subscription program 鈥 a key effort to diversify its revenue 鈥 now has more than seven million subscribers, up from the five million it reported in the fall.

The company also reported strong user growth. Daily active users grew 10 per cent year-over-year in the December quarter to 414 million, with gains largely coming from outside the US and Europe. However, average revenue per user globally dipped five per cent from the year-ago quarter.

In the current quarter, Snap said it expects daily active users to continue to grow from the December quarter to 420 million. The company is projecting year-over-year revenue growth of between 11 per cent and 15 per cent for the first three months of 2024.

Tuesday鈥檚 report also comes as Snap attempts to revamp its public image and distance itself from social media peers like Meta and TikTok that have faced regulatory scrutiny and safety concerns.

Snap on Friday launched a new with the tagline 鈥淟ess Social Media. More Snapchat鈥 that aims to highlight its focus on private, personal conversations rather than passive consumption of content promoted by an algorithm. (Snapchat does have a feed called Spotlight where users can scroll through algorithmically sorted, short-form videos. But the company says its core mission is helping people to communicate with friends.)

Days before the campaign鈥檚 launch, Spiegel appeared to testify alongside other tech leadersfocused on the platforms鈥 safety measures for young users. During the hearing, Spiegel apologized to parents whose children had died after purchasing drugs on Snapchat.

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