By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Reporter
NEW YORK (AP) --Snapchat is getting a redesign to make it easier to use. But the new look will not make the latest earnings report from its parent company any prettier for investors.
Shares in Snap Inc. were down more than 16 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company posted yet another quarter of disappointing growth.
Snap Inc. on Tuesday reported a loss of $443.2 million in its third quarter, more than triple its loss a year earlier. The larger loss came with lackluster Snapchat user growth and revenue that was below Wall Street expectations.
The Venice, California-based company said it had a loss of 36 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, were 14 cents per share, which was in line with the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Snap posted revenue of $207.9 million in the period, up from $128.2 million a year ago. That was well below the average forecast of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks of $233.1 million.
Snapchat added 4.5 million daily users in the quarter to 178 million, which amounts to a 3 percent growth. The company does not report monthly user figures.
CEO Evan Spiegel said Snapchat needs to grow its user base beyond 13 to 34 year olds in the U.S., France the U.K. and Australia. This, he said in a statement, includes Android users, people older than 34 and what he called "rest of world" markets.
"This means that we will have to make some changes to our product and business," Spiegel said, adding that this includes redesigning Snapchat to make it easier to use.
Snap's stock fell $2.47 to $12.65 in after-hours trading.
Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SNAP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SNAP
Civil rights groups call on major corporations to stick with DEI programs
A broad group of civil rights organizations called on the CEOs and board members of major companies Thursday to maintain their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack online and in lawsuits.
An open letter signed by 19 organizations and directed at the leaders of Fortune 1000 companies said companies that abandon their DEI programs are shirking their fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders.
The civil rights groups included the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
"Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, policies, and practices make business-sense and they're broadly popular among the public, consumers, and employees," their statement read. "But a small, well-funded, and extreme group of right-wing activists is attempting to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs."
Companies such as Ford, Lowes, John Deere, Molson Coors and Harley-Davidson recently announced they would pull back on their diversity, equity and inclusion policies after facing pressure from conservative activists who were emboldened by recent victories in the courtroom.
Many major corporations have been examining their diversity programs in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions unconstitutional. Dozens of cases have been filed making similar arguments about employers. Critics of DEI programs say the initiatives provide benefits to people of one race or sexual orientation while excluding others.
In their letter, the civil rights organizations, which also included... Read More