Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) got the social media company results reporting season off to a poor start with its shares tumbling 25% overnight as revenue growth slowed to a five-year low.
Rivals Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB), owner of Facebook, Google-parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Pinterest Inc (NYSE:PINS) also suffered as analysts fretted Snap’s woes were further evidence of a wider sector malaise.
Meta dropped 4%, Alphabet fell 2% and Pinterest was down 8%.
Snap generated revenues of US$1.13bn in the three months to end-September, up 6% year-on-year, but warned it expected to see no growth in the current quarter, traditionally one of its busiest.
Losses for the quarter were US$360mln with the group now running up a deficit of US$1.14bn in the year so far on sales of US$3.3bn.
Advertisers cutting back on their spending had caused the slowdown in revenues, said the statement.
In August, Snap laid off a fifth of its staff and said it would pare back development activities outside of its core.
The company floated in 2017 at US$17 but having hit a high of US$83 in September last year, successive warnings have seen the shares plunge almost 90% to around US$11.
Results from Meta and Alphabet are scheduled for next week.