Snapchat shares tumble on back of Kylie Jenner tweet

[midian182]

It’s strange to think that a single tweet from a celebrity can wipe over one billion dollars off the market value of a company, but that’s the world we live in today. Kylie Jenner, the reality TV star and socialite, gave Snapchat’s stock price another black eye after revealing she doesn’t use the app anymore.

Kim Kardashian’s half-sister tweeted to her 24.5 million followers: "sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad."

Jenner had been one of the app’s most popular users. Immediately following her tweet, the company’s stock started to fall and eventually declined by 6 percent, clearing around $1.3 billion off its market cap and dropping shares near to the IPO price of $17.

Snapchat’s recent redesign, which separates content from friends and brands–including celebrities and influencers—hasn’t been well-received by its near 200 million daily active users, and even led to a change.org petition signed by 1.2 million people. The fact that investors are concerned the update won’t increase Snap’s user numbers has also contributed to the company’s troubles.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative response to the update, Snapchat has no intention of reverting to the old system. The company acknowledges that the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many,” and said a future update would bring more personalization features, but that hasn’t appeased users. Much like Facebook and its recent change, Snap says the goal is to “make it easier to connect with the people you care about.”

Jenner did post another tweet that read, “still love you tho snap ... my first love,” but it didn’t undo the effects of her first message.

Speaking about the update at a San Francisco conference, Snapchat CEO Even Spiegel, whose pay was $637.8 million last year, said: “One of the complaints we got was, ‘wow I used to feel like this celebrity was my friend and now they don’t feel like my friend anymore’. And we’re like: ‘Exactly. They’re not your friend.’ So for us, even some of the frustrations we’re seeing really validate those changes. And it’ll take time for people to adjust.”

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https://www.techspot.com/news/73416-snapchat-shares-tumble-back-kylie-jenner-tweet.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Oh look, more imagined wealth from the scam that is the stock market dissappearing.

99% of normal people dont care. Snapchat barely makes money, it isnt worth billions, ore even hundreds of millions.

 

[trparky]

I've often wondered how these "social media" companies many any money and then I think ... oh yeah, there's a sucker born every minute. They make money based upon YOUR data.

 

[dirtyferret]

...am I the only one who could not pick this girl out of a line up??

 

[Theinsanegamer]

...am I the only one who could not pick this girl out of a line up??

Nope. Everyone with this much plastic surgery and makeup look the same, a undefined ugly blob.

 

[senketsu]

Two things I find interesting here.
Snapchat lost $514 million in 2016 (Business Insider), had an IPO in March 2017, lost $443 million in Q4 of 2017 (can't find an annual figure), while at the same time founders Evan Spiegel (Snap’s CEO) and Bobby Murphy (CTO) made about $272M from Snap’s IPO and this article says Spiegel was paid $637.8 million last year. Smells bad to me.
About the update Spiegel states "One of the complaints we got was, ‘wow I used to feel like this celebrity was my friend and now they don’t feel like my friend anymore’. And we’re like: ‘Exactly. They’re not your friend.’ At this I'm thinking no sh!t Sherlock. It doesn't say how many complaints like this came in, but if they were numerous it really makes me sad that people need a non-exist and made up validation to feel better about themselves.

 

[Uncle Al]

From Snap-Chat to Snap-bankrupt

 

[Rippleman]

...am I the only one who could not pick this girl out of a line up??

same here, heard of the name only a few times, have no idea if I seen her or not.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Ironically, this actually makes me WANT to use snapchat now. Any platform that is losing the interest of current vapid "celebrity" crowd has a chance to be that much less crowded with inane empty content and the constant mindless droning fans that seems to follow them everywhere they go.

 

[Teko03]

Ironically, this actually makes me WANT to use snapchat now. Any platform that is losing the interest of current vapid "celebrity" crowd has a chance to be that much less crowded with inane empty content and the constant mindless droning fans that seems to follow them everywhere they go.

Snapchat is nothing but inane empty content.

 

[Kotters]

Literally who?

 

[qking]

I still think of Snap chat as the arguing between siblings when you play the card game

 

[slamscaper]

I honestly don't understand the big deal about the new interface. It's simple to me, however I know the average user gets really used to the way an app works and when things change they can't figure out how to do the things they did before.

There has been such a HUGE outcry to change the UI back and because of this, it just doesn't make sense to me why the SnapChat developers don't give everyone what they want. They decided to stand their ground here and it's a bewildering move, as they are just going to lose out to the other companies that have already cloned most of their functionality. They are making a huge mistake here.