Snapchat Rises Above Social Media Fray In Q4: Why It Reported First Quarterly Profit Ever?

For the first time since going public, Snapchat has announced a “first quarter of positive net income as a public company,” and “first full year of positive operating cash flow [$293 million] and Free Cash Flow [ $223 million].”

The instant messaging social media app cited its investment in augmented reality, Snapchat creators, broadcasters, spotlights, and challenges, shopping opportunities, new features on the app and expanded offerings for advertisers as reasons for the Q4 growth. It also allowed the company to grow the number of people using the app to 319 million.

Snapchat especially focused on augmented reality, which is expected to be a big part of the Metaverse.

“The strength of our core business has enabled us to accelerate our investments in augmented reality, transforming the way that the Snapchat community experiences the world through our camera,” said Evan Spiegel, co-founder and Snapchat CEO.

Snapchat currently has deals with “NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Disney,” which handle many of the popular shows on Snapchat Discover. It also partnered with the Kardashians and Jenners, Mariah Carey and cosmetics companies like Mac, Sugar Cosmetics and MyGlamm. With these partnerships, Snapchat was able to create new and original content for users like challenges and new filters, including augmented reality.

These new aspects are a way for the social media platform to compete with TikTok. As TikTok’s massive success deals other social media companies a blow, with Meta’s slump this week affecting other social media companies like Pinterest, Google, and Twitter. For now, Snapchat has risen above the slump.

Snapchat was started in 2011 and did not become a publicly-traded company until 2017 under SNAP. Since the company has failed to make a real profit until this quarter. As of 2:30 pm on Thursday, SNAP stock was up $39.12, around $14.62 or 59.65%, respectively.