Snapchat cracking under rivals’ pressure as results disappoint

Concerns rose today about whether Snapchat can cope with fierce competition from Facebook after weak maiden results on the stock market hammered its share price.

Snap Inc, the social media app’s parent, revealed user growth and revenues were weaker than expected in the first quarter as it plunged to a $2.2 billion (£1.7 billion) loss, causing the share price to tank 23%.

Analysts put the slowing growth down to competition with Facebook, which owns rival services Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The ‘problem’ with Snap is that its features are so easy to copy,” said Richard Holway, chairman of TechMarketView.

“Facebook’s Instagram already has 200 million users of its Snap look-a-like Stories feature.”

Edison analyst Richard Windsor said: “Facebook can easily afford to outspend Snap.”