Welcome to "#SocialStocks," The Fly's weekly recap of Wall Street's reactions to social media stock news.
FACEBOOK BACKS OFF OF WHATSAPP ADS: On January 16, The Wall Street Journal's Jeff Horwitz and Kirsten Grind reported that Facebook (FB) is now backing away from efforts to sell ads in WhatsApp. The report cites people familiar with the matter and explains this is a reversal of a decision which previously drove the creators of the popular messaging app to resign.
DORSEY SAYS “PROBABLY” NEVER TO EDIT FEATURE: On January 15, Input reported that Twitter (TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey said you'll "probably" never be able to edit a tweet. Dorsey said recently, "The reason there's no edit button is we started as an SMS text messaging service. So, as you all know, when you send a text message, you can't really take it back. Twitter wants "to preserve that vibe, that feeling, in the early days."
LIBRA TRIGGERED CENTRAL BANKS TO STUDY DIGITAL CURRENCIES: On January 22, Reuters’ Leika Kihara and Takahiko Wada reported that Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency spurred central banks to set up a new group to study the potential for issuing their own digital currencies. The report cited comments made by Hiromi Yamaoka, former head of the Bank of Japan's division overseeing payment and settlement systems. The central banks of Britain, the Euro Zone, Japan, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland on Tuesday announced a plan to share experiences to look at the case for issuing digital currencies, amid a growing debate over the future of money, and Yamaoka says the decision is a sign of how Libra has triggered a global competition among central banks to make their currencies more appealing.
UBS SAYS SNAP SEES “POSITIVE MOMENTUM” SUSTAINED IN 2020: On January 17, UBS analyst Eric Sheridan upgraded Snap (SNAP) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $24, up from $16. The analyst said the company exited 2019 with positive momentum in ad revenue as well as user growth, and he expects that momentum to be sustained this year. In spite of the 21% run-up in the past month, Sheridan remains positive on Snap and its management team's efforts on the Android OS refresh, stating that the company could see a multi-year- revenue growth.
