opens new tab slumped more than 31% on Wednesday after fourth-quarter revenue missed Wall Street expectations, with the company struggling to compete for advertising dollars against heavyweights such as Meta and Alphabet.
The Snapchat owner’s results are in contrast to strong advertising sales that rivals reported, a sign that advertisers are gravitating towards larger, stable companies amid an uncertain economy.
Snap, whose shares nearly doubled last year, was on track to lose roughly $9 billion in market value, based on its share price of $11.98 on Wednesday, if premarket losses hold. Rival Pinterest (PINS.N), opens new tab also fell nearly 4%.
Meta’s (META.O), opens new tab advertising sales surged 25% during the holiday quarter and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google ad business grew 11% as ad sales from YouTube increased 16% in the same period.
The company’s fourth-quarter revenue came in at $1.36 billion, missing estimates of $1.38 billion, according to LSEG data.
Snap said earlier this week it would lay off 10% of staff, or 528 employees, in order to “invest incrementally” in the company’s growth over time.
