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4:55 PM · Sep 4, 2022Twitter Web App

2) NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE This is just my high level take on a company's decisions; I could be missing lots of important things.

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3) The narrative about Snapchat--in the article and in public--is negative. It's stock price is "cratering"; it's quarterly growth is "decelerating"; and it's laying off 20% of its workforce. Two of its executives are leaving for Netflix, and it's closing some products.

4) Let's unpack that. a) It's true that its stock price is down a lot since the peak--although in the last month it's actually _up_ 10%. Nasdaq, for reference, is down 10%. And anyway it's mostly a victim of the environment.

5) b) It's quarterly growth is "decelerating". True, but: also, that means it's.... growing? Which is more than can be said about many products in this environment! It's growing! Just growing less quickly. Even its revenue, and gross profit, are up year on year.

6) And then there are the layoffs, and product axings. Which, sure, are signs of something bad: no one hires and launches with the expectation of firing and discontinuing. But they are also, probably, the right decisions.

7) SNAP made $2.4b of gross profit last year, but spent ~3b--most of which was seems to have been on employees. This is the path towards profitability. And, probably, towards a lean, efficient, coherent internal culture. It's weird that media punishes people for it!

8) And executives leaving? Honestly I don't know. I don't know the particular ones who left, and maybe they were crucial. But, for what it's worth: we've tend to find that the revolving door of C-suite public co executives is not particularly fruitful ground for hiring.