Social Media

Telegram and X expose tech platforms’ new reality

12 Sep 2024

The arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of the controversial messaging app, and the ban of X in Brazil shows state officials are not afraid to intervene in Big Tech. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate what it means and how CEOs should manage the threat.

Telegram’s route to profitability looks dubious

3 Sep 2024

The troubled app’s CEO Pavel Durov runs a lossmaking enterprise. The easiest path to profitability is to echo Facebook, but content moderation costs would further hit Telegram’s finances. The main alternative is to be a messaging app, but WhatsApp implies that’s hard to monetise.

Oasis-style mega-gigs may increasingly slide away

30 Aug 2024

The 1990s UK rock titans’ tour next year could generate 400 mln pounds in sales. Oasis can bank on older fans’ nostalgia, and younger ones’ interest in the superstars of yesteryear. Yet the streaming era’s fragmented tastes imply events on the same scale will get less common.

Telegram CEO arrest is fuzzy warning to Big Tech

28 Aug 2024

Paris prosecutors detained Pavel Durov as part of a probe into illicit activity on the app. The specifics of the case and French law have little read across for rivals like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. Yet a global scandal will heap pressure on platforms to clean up content.

Elon Musk’s best move in EU fight may be an eXit

21 Aug 2024

The billionaire has different views on content moderation from the European Commission, which is investigating his social-media site. It’s hard to imagine a compromise. Rather than risking fines of 6% of sales, it might be easier for X to simply block users in the region.

Meta joins corporate ‘profit-to-fines’ club

1 Aug 2024

The $1.2 trln social media firm grew sales 22% last quarter, aided more by monetization of its users than adding new ones. Thing is, pushing the boundaries draws costly scrutiny. A sequence of legal penalties could build to a bigger risk for Mark Zuckerberg’s company.

Musk wants to help Trump? Try an X-Truth tie-up

29 Jul 2024

The Tesla boss pledged his support for the Republican nominee’s presidential bid. But a marriage between former-Twitter and Donald Trump’s Truth Social could help them both. It would give Truth financial viability, X a crystallized valuation, and both owners a potential exit.

Meta AI strategy: give something to get something

25 Jul 2024

As tech firms invest hand over fist in artificial intelligence, the Facebook owner’s plan to let developers tweak and freely use its models sounds like a giveaway. CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes Meta will be long-term richer for it. Google’s Android success suggests he might be right.

Snap may want to disappear from the public markets

22 Jul 2024

The $24 bln social media firm is staking its future in augmented reality with see-through glasses. Taking Snap private would allow breathing room. Even if insider Tencent and boss Evan Spiegel rolled shares, it would require a large check. But potential returns are worth it.

Meta stake may blur vision for Ray-Ban maker

18 Jul 2024

The $1.2 trln tech giant may buy 5% of eyewear group EssilorLuxottica. It’s a show of confidence in the companies’ smart glasses partnership. But the investment could complicate the Paris-listed firm’s governance and limit its options for working with rivals like Apple.

Reddit answers almost everything post-IPO

8 May 2024

In its first quarterly results since making a market debut, the $8 bln social-media site grew revenue 48% and swung to positive adjusted EBITDA from a loss. Boss Steve Huffman is addressing many concerns raised ahead of the listing, but the valuation remains questionable.

Meta’s spending habits have strange power to shock

24 Apr 2024

The Instagram owner lost 16%, or $200 bln, of market cap after saying 2024 capex could hit $40 bln, more than flagged earlier. Maybe a debut dividend dazed investors, but boss Mark Zuckerberg’s track record leaves little doubt he’ll run full throttle into a cutthroat AI race.

TikTok’s fate matters only up to a point for Meta

24 Apr 2024

Under a new US law, owner ByteDance is likely to sell the app without its secret sauce, suffer a ban or win a court challenge. Mark Zuckerberg’s social-media colossus should capitalize on the first two scenarios. Even the third allows it to make decent headway against its rival.

Ben & Jerry’s rocky ESG road bucks vanilla trends

4 Apr 2024

The purpose-driven ice cream brand is being scooped out of Unilever as corporate activism increasingly invites controversy. And yet the maker of flavors like Empower Mint has grown faster than its parent. Social values, especially when authentic, can mix well with financial aims.

GameStop saga ends. Winner: capital markets

3 Apr 2024

The game retailer cashed in on meme stock mania, revamped management, but failed to reinvent itself. Reddit-fueled investors, eager to fight shortsellers, may just lose their shirts. It would be a costly lesson that, some broken pockets aside, the market was working all along.

Donald Trump’s paper payout defies financial truth

22 Mar 2024

Shareholders of a blank-check vehicle agreed to buy his nascent social media firm, valuing it at about $5.6 bln. If all goes to plan, the Republican candidate could add 55% of that to his net worth. On any objective measure, though, his Truth Social platform is worth much less.

Reddit looks awkward in its new business suit

21 Mar 2024

Going public at a hefty $6.4 bln shows investors think the social media site can turn a profit. But Reddit still looks a poor fit for public markets given its reliance on moderators who manage its forums for free. Their interests are at odds with advertisers and shareholders.

Joe Biden out-MAGAs Donald Trump

14 Mar 2024

The US president is siding with union workers who oppose a US Steel takeover by Japan’s Nippon. He also said he would sign a bill forcing TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the popular app or see it banned. The ad hoc approach to national security concerns sets a dangerous precedent.

Buyout shops take risky exit to bypass deal crash

14 Mar 2024

A lack of M&A and IPOs has left private equity portfolios with $3 trln of companies, many past their sell-by dates. As a result, firms are increasingly cashing out backers while keeping assets. There are guardrails on the structures now, but they could easily spin out of control.

Reddit Google searches ‘how to make money’

12 Mar 2024

The social media firm’s rapid top-line growth suggests it’s attracting ad dollars. But Reddit’s reliance on search engines like Google to attract viewers is a risk. Roughly three-fourths of its new users come through search. Monetizing them keeps the platform on a cost treadmill.