Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results • Hacker News Board

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#61

Post by bcantrill » Tue, Nov 07, 2017, 11:50 PM UTC

sjg007 wrote: post #4

ProAm wrote: post #3

Oof, that is a staggering quarterly loss, how long will investors be willing to tolerate that when there are competitors active now in that industry, mainly instagram.

The kids still snapchat so... me thinks a while.

Well, I wouldn't be so sure. When SNAP had their first big miss a few quarters ago, I asked my 13-year-old (who I noticed hadn't been using Snapchat as much as he used to) about his usage. His response was that "Dad, no one uses Snapchat anymore!" (It's "all about insta", according to him.)

While it is certainly anecdotal, it also fits both the data (the declining growth and difficulties monetizing) and the general perception (that Instagram stories obviated Snapchat). But then again, if my son were a kingmaker, Funky Karts would be a unicorn -- so take this for what it is!

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#62

Post by amigoingtodie » Tue, Nov 07, 2017, 11:54 PM UTC

jasongill wrote: post #27

liquidise wrote: post #21

> Hosting costs per DAU were $0.68 in Q3 2017 as compared to $0.64 in Q3 2016 and $0.61 in Q2 2017. Those are staggering figures to me and the trend is equally surprising. Maybe it's ignorance about hosting costs at such a scale, but i feel like cost/DAU should be declining over time, right? Is there something i'm missing here?

Maybe the amount of usage per user is increasing (a metric that isn't really reflected by just counting DAU)?

There is a thriving market in amateur adult modeling and porn.

I am thinking of writing an e-book about it.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#63

Post by nrhk » Tue, Nov 07, 2017, 11:55 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #57

marcell wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: > But it did not work with Snapchat and Evan Spiegel, who seems to have turned down Facebook’s $3,000,000,000 without hesitation or second thought. I think it did work out pretty well for Evan Spiegel and Snap Inc., since they're trading at around $18B on the stock market despite lots of concerns around their business...

You are comparing 3 billion cash in pocket vs 18 billion paper money. How much stock has he sold so far?

He's made more than he would've gotten. Insiders sold way ahead of the game, though not all their shares.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#64

Post by whathaschanged » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:03 AM UTC

Everybody talks about the advantages of immediate cashflow, while always ignoring these outcomes.

What did going public allow the company to do that it was unable to do prior to selling out? Did they just need the money to keep paying for bandwidth? Because that's the essence of the 1990s dot com game, with private venture capital being replaced by wall street investment firms.

Unreasonable demands for 'projected growth' is what always kills companies who otherwise, would be maintaining just fine.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#65

Post by loourr » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:04 AM UTC

Can anyone explain to me what a Negative Accumulated Deficit means in a liability account?

As I understand it an Accumulated Deficit is the opposite of retained earning so a loss. But losses are positive values in liability accounts so we should invert it again and get back to an Accumulated Deficit. But instead of SnapChat adding this amount to their liabilities they're using it to reduce their it to reduce their equity.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#66

Post by Ganz7 » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:09 AM UTC

devscreen wrote: post #29

rblion wrote: post #25

How long do you think they have left? OR Do you foresee them surviving beyond 2027?

I'm usually quite bullish on Snap. They seem to be doing some things right. From the outside, they seem overstaffed so it's good to see them reducing headcount. The fact that they're rebuilding the android app completely sounds like a bad idea that will be a bit of a timesink.

Nope. Snapchat is almost unusable on Android right now.

Compared to instagram's stories, which loads up in an instant, Snapchat takes its own sweet time. They made the mistake of not paying enough attention to android in the beginning. And now they are trying to fix their mistake. It is a timesink; but they brought it upon themselves.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#67

Post by afuchs » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:09 AM UTC

devscreen wrote: post #29

rblion wrote: post #25

How long do you think they have left? OR Do you foresee them surviving beyond 2027?

I'm usually quite bullish on Snap. They seem to be doing some things right. From the outside, they seem overstaffed so it's good to see them reducing headcount. The fact that they're rebuilding the android app completely sounds like a bad idea that will be a bit of a timesink.

The Android app crashes frequently and freezes up even more often. Have you tried using the app for an extended period of time?

Instead of fixing each individual problem, they appear to have declared bankruptcy and are throwing out their old code.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#68

Post by addicted » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:15 AM UTC

rrdharan wrote: post #56

nl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that money given to employees as equity is not "real money" is toxic. Stock-based compensation isn't the same as cash. It has both costs and benefits, but saying it is "toxic" seems overreach.

I'm not the person who wrote that but I think you're misinterpreting the statement. I believe user addicted was trying to say is that companies are attempting to treat a large portion of compensation paid out to employees as somehow not material or meaningful, and that practice is toxic.

Yes that is exactly what I was trying to convey.

They are obviously not the same thing (as the comment about trying to pay rent, for example, tries to point out). But at the same time, a lot of companies try to pass them off as not meaningful which I don't think is helpful even if toxic may be too strong a term. (SNAP's figures do that literally, giving us NM for change % numbees affected by the stock compensation).

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#69

Post by azinman2 » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:16 AM UTC

“Excess inventory and related charges – In Q3 2017, we recorded $39.9 million of charges related to Spectacles inventory, primarily related to excess inventory reserves and inventory purchase commitment cancellation charges.“

Looks like spectacles was a failure.

Re: Snap Inc. Third Quarter 2017 Results

#70

Post by perchard » Wed, Nov 08, 2017, 12:20 AM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #69

“Excess inventory and related charges – In Q3 2017, we recorded $39.9 million of charges related to Spectacles inventory, primarily related to excess inventory reserves and inventory purchase commitment cancellation charges.“ Looks like spectacles was a failure.

a spectacular failure