FILE PHOTO: The Snapchat messaging application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017. The figure is closely watched by investors who hope user growth can be translated into advertising revenue.Revenue rose 72 percent to $285.7 million, beating analysts’ expectations of $253.2 million as companies advertised more in the key holiday quarter.Instagram, with more than twice the daily users of Snapchat and backed by Facebook’s large bank account, has threatened to stamp out its rival by copying features such as photo filters and disappearing slide shows.Confidence that the two could coexist in the social media sector was shaken when Snapchat’s user growth stalled last year. Snap had not reported upbeat results since going public.In addition to fixing bugs, the company is redesigning Snapchat to make it easier to use. Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said the new version had rolled out to 40 million users and would launch worldwide in the first quarter.Acknowledging a perception that Snapchat is popular mainly among millennials, Spiegel said: “We believe that the redesign has also made our application simpler and easier to use, especially for older users.”Snap posted a net loss of $350 million, or 28 cents per share, compared to a loss of $170 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, Snap reported a loss of 13 cents. Analysts on average expected a loss of 16 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Revenue per user rose 46 percent from a year earlier to $1.53, while cost of revenue per user rose 5 percent to $1.02.Still, the company expects its year-over-year revenue growth rate to moderate in the current quarter compared with the fourth quarter, Vollero said.

Source: Egypt Today February 07, 2018 07:07 UTC