*By Michael Teich*
Snap couldn't convince enough new users to join its troubled platform in the first quarter of 2018, and there will be no recovery for the company's stock as long as the current management team remains in control, said Michael Pachter, an analyst from Wedbush Securities.
Shares of the social software company plummeted Wednesday, a day after it delivered quarterly results that seriously disappointed Wall Street. The social media company added just 4 million daily active users from the previous quarter, falling short of the 7 million estimate. The stock responded quickly, and closed down almost 22 percent on Wednesday.
Pachter said competition, an unattractive platform redesign, and Snap's inability to appeal to older users were among the top reasons for its sluggish growth. “Anything Snap comes up with, Facebook will copy and they'll be more effective at it,” he said.
Despite the negative sentiment on Wall Street, Snap still claims 191 million daily active users. Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel acknowledged in an earnings call that the redesign was a drag on revenue and caused "apprehension" among advertising partners, but he emphasized users are still spending over 30 minutes per day on the app.
Pachter, who gives the stock a "neutral" rating and a $10 target for 12 months, said he is resisting giving Snap a "sell" rating because, at some point, "somebody will buy" the company.
The end of 2025 is almost upon us. And it’s time to unpack Spotify Wrapped. On Wednesday, the music streaming giant delivered its annual recap — giving its hundreds of millions of users worldwide a look at the top songs, artists, podcasts and other audio they listened to over the past year. Spotify isn’t the only platform to roll out a yearly glimpse of data collected from consumers’ online lives. But since its launch about a decade ago, Wrapped has become one of the most anticipated. And Spotify is billing the 2025 edition to be the biggest yet, with a host of new features it hopes may also address some disappointments users had last year.
Elon Musk’s X unveiled a feature that lets users see where an account is based. Online sleuths and experts quickly found that many popular accounts, often posting in support of the U.S. MAGA movement with thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, are based outside the U.S. This raises concerns about foreign influence in U.S. politics.
The Enhanced Games is going public in two ways — with a new listing on the Nadsaq stock exchange and also by offering a direct-to-consumer business focused on performance products.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
2025’s top Black Friday tech deals from smart speakers to wearables. Tom’s Guide editor Kate Kozuch shares expert picks and tips for smart holiday shopping.
