Anyone wanting to invest in the company that owns Snapchat now has an opportunity to do something that early investors were unable to do: buy shares for less than they cost on the first day of trading.
After tumbling 12 percent Monday, shares of Snap Inc. fell another 10 percent Tuesday, closing at $21.44.
Snap priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 each. The shares opened at $24 apiece Thursday and jumped 44 percent on their first trading day.
Industry analysts grew leery of slowing user growth numbers last year and everyone is now trying to figure out the value of a young company that is quickly catching up to Twitter in the number of people who use it.
The IPO of the Los Angeles company was the most anticipated arrival since Twitter Inc. entered the public market in 2013.
In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Snap said that it had 158 million daily users in its fourth quarter, up 48 percent from the prior-year period. But Wall Street has become skittish about future growth.
Whereas user growth expanded in each consecutive quarter of 2015, that expansion began to slip in each consecutive quarter of 2016, hitting just 5 million new users in the final quarter of the year.
That was half the user growth in the final quarter of 2015.
Snap blamed the slowing growth late in the year on technical issues, saying the launch of several products and release of multiple updates hurt the performance of its Snapchat app.
It's been a mixed bag for social media. Where Facebook has soared, Twitter has struggled to find its way.
Mark Zuckerberg's company debuted on Wall Street in 2012. It has continued to enhance its social network and its ad revenue and user base has grown fast. Twitter, since its 2013 IPO, has experienced stalling revenue growth and the company, after the return of co-founder Jack Dorsey, has been forced to cut costs and shuffle leadership.
Twitter is now valued at $11 billion, while Facebook is valued at $395 billion.
Snap, upon its IPO, became more valuable the stalwarts like American Airlines, Macy's and Xerox.
Mike Pierantozzi joins Movers+Shakers as exec creative director
Creative agency Movers+Shakers has appointed Mike Pierantozzi as executive creative director. In this new role, he will help guide the creative direction of Movers+Shakers’ socially-native campaigns. Pierantozzi will report to co-founder and chief creative officer Geoffrey Goldberg.
With nearly two decades of experience as a copywriter, creative director, and multi-platform storyteller, Pierantozzi brings a wealth of knowledge from his work with major brands including Kraft, Unilever, IBM, and Walmart. He has led the creation of award-winning campaigns for agencies like Red Tettemer, Ogilvy, The Brooklyn Brothers, TAXI, Saatchi & Saatchi, and most recently, Vayner, where he spearheaded culturally iconic work for Planters including “Death of Mr. Peanut.” He led the National Down Syndrome Society and Luvs account, whose “First Kid. Second Kid” campaign was awarded by the Effies, ADC, Clios and LIAs.
Outside of the office, Pierantozzi practices what he teaches brands. He’s gone viral multiple times on his own TikTok account, featuring comedic interactions with his son and a trombone. He’s accumulated 15K followers on TikTok.
“Mike brings a rare and awesome combination of deep social and platform experience, a keen eye for excellent storytelling, and a humble and kind approach to leadership,” said Goldberg. “Mike’s got a knack for turning brand stories into cultural movements, making him the perfect fit for Movers+Shakers. He’s got the kind of bold vision and attention to culture that fits perfectly with our mission to push creative boundaries and drive industry firsts. Plus, as a creator himself he has the innate ability to make people stop, laugh, and share--which is exactly what we’re about.”
“I’ve... Read More