Snap lost $2.2bn in first-ever earnings and Twitter can't handle it

Snap Inc shares plunged on Wednesday after the owner of Snapchat reported slowing user growth and revenue in its first earnings report as a public company, missing some Wall Street estimates as it competes with copycat messaging apps.

Shares tumbled 23 per cent in after-hours trading to wipe some $6 billion from Snap's market value, a reversal for the company after a red-hot March initial public offering that was the biggest for a U.S. tech company since Facebook Inc's 2012 debut.

The stock fell to $17.66, just above its IPO price of $17.

Some investors were hoping Snap would surprise them with big numbers in its first quarterly report, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said.



"The fact that they failed to live up to expectations, let alone exceed them, disappointed people," he said.

The performance echoed slides in Facebook and Twitter after they posted debut scorecards following their IPOs. Twitter shares cratered 24 per cent the next day, while Facebook's tumbled 11 per cent, still the biggest-ever one-day losses for both.

Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel sought to reassure investors during an earnings call, fielding a dozen questions that ranged from strategy to how it would deal with competitors.

He also did not shy away from one query that allowed him to take a feisty jab at Facebook.



"If you want to be a creative company, you've got to get comfortable with and enjoy the fact that people are going to copy your product if you make great stuff," he said.

Making a comparison to the search industry, Spiegel added: "Just because Yahoo has a search box doesn't mean they're Google."

Needless to say, there have been many reactions to the news with people taking to Twitter to offer their two-cents. Here's what they had to say:

Snap $SNAP plunges over 20% after posting disappointing Q1 user figures and a loss of $2.2 bn, despite revenue of only $149.6m pic.twitter.com/o13ckqdT13

— Investment Observer (@InvtObserver) May 10, 2017

$SNAP pic.twitter.com/tAPJlghLTT

— samir basaria (@samirbasaria11) May 10, 2017

https://twitter.com/Infidelliot/status/862446547660926978

*Opens up app to see $SNAP down 18% post earnings*
*Immediately logs on to $TWTR for the memes*

— MBM (@MBMeiss) May 10, 2017

oh $SNAP!

(did anyone else make that joke yet) pic.twitter.com/KKXNhiDpwE

— Steph Auerbach (@StephLauren) May 10, 2017

$SNAP pic.twitter.com/w2p6sbpUpF

— ace of trades (@tendersplendor) May 10, 2017

can we take a break from trump and make fun of @evanspiegel for a few days?$SNAP to lose $2 billion dollars this year

— Mike G (@michaeljgartner) May 10, 2017

@AdamSinger Oh $SNAP ;-O pic.twitter.com/f7sYU5OZ2g

— Charles Erick (@ewmpsi) May 10, 2017

Mark Zuckerberg as he listens to $SNAP call pic.twitter.com/SblzQ67GJ0

— Jared Sleeper (@JaredSleeper) May 10, 2017