Snap’s chief unfazed as stocks drop and investors worry

The social media app’s founder said creative business owners must ‘basically enjoy’ that other platforms (such as Facebook) ‘copy your products if you make great stuff.’

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

The company badly missed the majority of its estimates, causing its stock to take a 25 percent hit. Though Snap reported some positive numbers—an average time of 30 or more minutes spent on the app and 3 billion snaps shared per day—the news was overwhelmingly dour.

Several attempts by rival Facebook to add features to its main platform and to Instagram that mirror Snapchat features has made the competition fierce. The social network’s moves also has kept many users on Facebook and Instagram, aiding in Snapchat’s slowed growth.

Analysts are recalling that Facebook struggled following its IPO, and Twitter’s stock price rose. Years later, Facebook is thriving while Twitter flounders.

Snap’s chief executive, Evan Spiegel, didn’t help the company’s image or ease investors’ fears during the 26-year-old’s first-ever earnings call. CNBC’s Jim Cramer labeled Spiegel as “arrogant” and suggested he needed to be “hazed.”

If you think all the Facebook copycatting is bothering Spiegel and the rest of his team, think again. During the earnings call Spiegel told investors:

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.