Snapchat Gains 11 Million Users Worldwide But Is Still In The Red

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 (Bernama-dpa) -- The photo and video app Snapchat continues to gain users, but can't make a profit, reported German Press Agency (dpa) based on figures released on Tuesday.

Over the past three months, the number of daily active users worldwide rose by 11 million or 9 per cent to 443 million, the company said. However, in the lucrative US market, it has stagnated at 100 million a year.

Snapchat's parent company, Snap, is struggling to turn user activity into profits. Third-quarter revenue increased by an annual 15 per cent to US$1.37 billion, which was slightly above analysts' expectations. 

However, the company still lost some US$153 million. This was a 58 per cent improvement compared to the nearly US$368.3 million a year ago. Snap's business is mainly based on advertising on the Snapchat app.

For the current quarter, which includes the Christmas season, Snap indicated revenues between US$1.51 billion and US$1.56 billion. Analysts had expected a forecast at the upper end of this range. Following the announcement of a share buyback amounting to around US$500 million, the stock rose by about 7 per cent in after-hours trading.

--BERNAMA-dpa