Latest news with #Snap
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump confirms he'll be negotiating his signature tax bill after Musk criticism
Donald Trump said he will be negotiating his signature tax bill after Elon Musk publicly criticised the president's spending plan, saying it 'undermines' cost-cutting efforts that the world's richest man once spearheaded. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged the bill 'needs to get a lot of support' in Congress, adding 'we have to get a lot of votes'. The president also said he was 'not happy about certain aspects of it, but I'm thrilled by other aspects of it' and confirmed he would be negotiating the legislation. The remarks come after Musk said he was 'disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which increases the budget deficit … and undermines the work that the Doge team is doing' in comments made to CBS as part of a longer interview due to run on its Sunday morning programme this weekend. Related: 'Nonsense and stupid': Trump's tariff war will cause global damage, says Grosvenor boss Musk had been leading the 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) since January, which was given the task of cutting state spending. He later announced in April he would be stepping back from the Trump administration after Tesla's earnings plunged, and spending millions of dollars in a supreme court race that his Republican candidate ultimately lost. Musk now appears to be hitting out at Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was narrowly approved last week by the House of Representatives. The bill pushes ahead with a number of Trump's campaign promises, including extending tax cuts for individuals and corporations and ending clean energy incentives enacted under Joe Biden. It also involves about $1tn (£741bn) in cuts to benefits aimed at supporting struggling households, including a health insurance scheme for low-income families, Medicaid, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) food stamps. However, the bill also funds the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico, as well as staff and facilities for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Even when taking cuts into account, the bill is expected to add about $2.3tn to the deficit, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Musk told CBS: 'I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion.' The comments will fuel rumours of a growing rift between the billionaire and the US president, whom Musk helped bankroll last year. In total, Musk's super political action committee donated $200m to Trump's presidential campaign before the November election, which many credit with helping to return Trump to the White House. Musk also has business interests at stake, with Trump's bill due to end a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles and to impose a $250 annual registration fee for owners. The Tesla boss has previously called for an end to those incentives, although that was months before the EV maker's earnings started to wobble. Last month, Tesla reported a 71% drop in first-quarter profits to $409m, compared with $1.39bn in the same period in 2024. Tesla's stock has also suffered, with the company losing about a quarter of its market value since Musk took a top spot in Trump's administration at the start of the year. Musk's criticism is likely to fuel opposition by hardline Republicans, who threatened to block Trump's legislation as it passes through the US senate unless the president rolls out deeper cuts that would reduce the national debt. One key senator, Rand Paul from Kentucky, told Fox News Sunday that the bill's cuts were 'wimpy and anaemic' and would 'explode the debt'. However, Trump has already been treading on politically sensitive territory by supporting a bill that makes big cuts to programmes he promised to protect. He pledged multiple times on the campaign trail last year that he would not touch basic safety nets, including Medicaid. Some of the president's 'make America great again' supporters, including the former White House strategist Steve Bannon, have also warned against such a move, with one Missouri senator, Josh Hawley, saying that cutting health insurance for the working poor would be 'politically suicidal'. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
50% Downside For SNAP Stock?
This photograph shows macaron pastries with the Snapchat logo during the inauguration of Snapchat ... More France headquarters in Paris on May 19, 2025. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) Snap (NYSE: SNAP) stock has fallen more than 20% this year. In fact, the stock has decreased over 50% from its peak in July of last year. It was trading at around $8 per share at the close of the market yesterday. This recent poor performance can be linked to the absence of second-quarter guidance, worries about how macroeconomic conditions are impacting advertising demand, and slower-than-expected revenue growth, particularly in key segments. The current question is – could it decline further—by another 25-30%? What if it drops to 50%, reaching $4 levels? Well, here's the issue: even at about $8 per share, the stock isn't inexpensive. It is valued at nearly 35 times its cash flow over the last twelve months. If we invert that figure, it results in a cash flow yield of roughly 2.9% (the ratio of cash flow to price). By comparison, Meta Platforms trades at just 17 times cash flow. Furthermore, Meta is a leader in social networking platforms and has consistently achieved 13% revenue growth over the past few years, in contrast to 9% for SNAP. Is a 35x multiple genuinely warranted for SNAP? What you are willing to pay is significant. We have developed the Trefis High Quality Portfolio with a focus on relative valuation. Notably, HQ has recorded over 91% return since its inception and has outperformed the S&P, Nasdaq, and Dow — all of them. Separately, see – What's Happening With CRM Stock? Although Snap's average revenue growth of 9% over the past three years is relatively modest, and its -13% net margins are inferior to most companies in the Trefis coverage universe, there's a crucial factor influencing its valuation. Snap has notably increased its user base, with daily active users rising from 319 million in 2021 to 460 million currently. This steady user growth has historically been rewarded by the market. The company's appeal to advertisers comes from its primary target audience: younger demographics (Gen Z and Millennials). These groups are particularly appealing due to their significant future spending potential and engagement with emerging trends, prompting investors to pay a premium for access to this valuable audience. While Snap may continue to grow its user base in the short term, the critical challenge lies in enhancing its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Failure to achieve this could result in a slowdown in revenue growth. Moreover, the company is currently not profitable, and the necessity to integrate AI into its offerings may further strain its already tight margins. As a result, Snap's valuation should reflect that of companies experiencing 5-10% revenue growth, assuming it can even maintain that level. In stark contrast to Snap, Meta is a more stable, resilient, and deeply entrenched entity. Its dominance is 'embedded' in the essential ways people socialize, communicate, and consume digital content. Meta currently trades at about 17 times cash flow while delivering 13% annual growth. If Snap were valued at a comparable 17x cash flow multiple, its share price would drop to around $4, representing another 50% decline. Could Snap's multiple even fall below the 17x commanded by Meta? Ultimately, the choice of how much you are ready to pay for SNAP is up to you. Snap's dependence on digital advertising, especially from sectors like consumer goods, entertainment, retail, and tech services, offers a potential silver lining. There's always the chance that advertising expenditures will recover. Historically, when economic conditions improve and consumer confidence rises, marketing budgets are among the first to expand. This occurs because companies typically increase advertising spending when they're optimistic about future sales growth, planning new product launches, or actively competing for market share. If advertising activities and volumes increase, Snap's revenues are likely to follow. There's considerable pent-up demand from brands that scaled back their advertising efforts during recent economic uncertainty. Importantly, Snap may not need to significantly elevate its ad prices; it mainly requires a boost in advertiser activity to drive its revenue growth. Comparing SNAP with Meta is essential for understanding the risk-reward profile of investing in Snap. Effective investment decisions rely on gauging relative attractiveness. The central question is: should you invest in SNAP stock, maintain interest-earning cash to avoid market risk, or perhaps choose an S&P 500 ETF? How much higher is the expected return on SNAP stock compared to cash, and what downside risk must be accepted for that potential gain? Utilizing a specific 'anchor' asset like Meta Platforms provides a strong framework for assessing this risk-reward dynamic. Note: Choose comparisons wisely. SNAP is currently a 'high valuation' stock. When a company trades at around 35x Price-to-Free Cash Flow (P/FCF), anchoring it against Meta offers essential perspective. Meta, with more reasonable multiples, often makes a more compelling investment case than Snap. Regardless of the trade-off, investing in a single stock can be risky. Conversely, the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, comprising 30 stocks, has a proven track record of comfortably outperforming the S&P 500over the last 4 years. What accounts for this? As a collective, HQ Portfolio stocks have delivered superior returns with reduced risk compared to the standard index, with a more stable performance observable in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.
Calgary Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Presumed Innocent writer Scott Turow brings new book to Vancouver Writers Fest event
Article content Article content Turow will be in Vancouver on June 3 (7:30 p.m.) at the Granville Island Stage for the Vancouver Writers Fest event Books & Ideas: Scott Turow — Presumed Guilty, along with award-winning author and screenwriter Susin Nielsen, the creator of Global TV's Family Law, whose latest book, Snap, is out now. Article content 'I think that my audience has always been disproportionately lawyers,' said Turow when asked about who comes to his live events. 'There are always some lawyers who want to write. The law is all about words. So, lawyers are word people to begin with. So, it's kind of natural.' Article content When wannabe writers turn up, they invariably seek some sort of advice from Turow, who has penned 13 novels and sold more than 30 million books. Article content 'My advice is that there aren't any magic formulas, and you've got to stick your butt in the chair and do it,' said Turow. 'It's like everything else in life. You get better at it by doing it. You know the old joke; how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.' Article content Article content After doing a creative writing degree in the early 1970s, Turow went to law school and then practised law. He stepped away from commercial law in 2022. But, today, he still has his hand in the legal game as he is working on a pro bono civil case — which he thinks will be his last — leaving him to get his legal fix at a keyboard. Article content While Turow's previous novels took place in more urban settings, Presumed Guilty is set in a small town with dynastic legal family. Article content 'The setting that I'm describing in Presumed Guilty is one that I know very well, and I've watched it with interest, even though I think we'll always be outsiders up there,' said Turow, who lives part of the time in rural Wisconsin. 'You're talking about an area, for example, where you know the economic prospects are limited, so you're basically raising your children understanding that they're likely to leave and not leave because they want to, but because they have to … This really is something that I thought I ought to write about, eventually, because it's not a part of American life that's glimpsed as often in our fiction.' Article content Article content He also liked the idea of a story surrounding a family where one member is suspected of a serious crime. Article content 'I've seen lots of good writing about this. There's just been a series on, I think it's on Netflix, called Adolescence, so this seemed really rich to me, because I'm always interested in drawing into the intersection between the law and family life,' said Turow. 'That's kind of a good matrix for me … When I got the idea, I thought wait a minute, this would be a really good coda for Rusty to end up as a defence lawyer. Then I was off to the races.' Article content It's been 15 years since Rusty last appeared in a Turow novel, but the author said he has always had plans to revisit Rusty and his life. Article content 'When I left Rusty at the end of Innocent, I was sort of like, 'Well, you know, I'm not sure I can leave this guy in this position,'' said Turow. 'I always had the sense I would go back to him one more time.'
Campaign ME
3 days ago
- Business
- Campaign ME
The new rules of ROI: How MENA marketers can win in a fragmented, data-driven era
The marketing playbook is undergoing a pivotal shift amid evolving economic landscapes, demanding strategic and thoughtful planning from businesses across the region. In MENA, companies are grappling with persistent inflation, currency volatility, and high interest rates, all of which are prompting tighter scrutiny on budget allocation and a sharper focus on return on investment (ROI). Fiscal deficits are widening, with Saudi Arabia projected to reach 2.3 per cent of GDP, while geopolitical tensions and global supply chain disruptions from tariffs and conflicts continue to fuel uncertainty. Still, the region offers compelling opportunities. The GCC continues to outperform the broader MENA region, with the UAE's economy expected to grow 4.8 per cent in 2025, driven largely by non-oil sectors. A regional tourism boom is also underway, Dubai welcomed over 18 million visitors in 2024 and ambitious economic diversification strategies like Saudi Vision 2030 and We the UAE 2031 are helping maintain investor optimism. The ROI reset Media fragmentation is adding complexity to the marketing landscape. With a growing number of online and offline touchpoints, marketers are under pressure to deliver ROI across an increasingly fragmented media environment. Emerging channels like Connected TV (CTV) are gaining traction, with the GCC's CTV sector projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 15 per cent through 2025. Meanwhile, retail media is expected to propel MENA's e-commerce market to $57 billion in 2026, reinforcing the strategic role of marketing in driving business outcomes. This rising pressure from economic headwinds to evolving privacy regulations demands a reset. Brands must rethink how they connect with consumers. I've drawn on Snap's experience supporting brands and agencies across the region to identify three key recommendations to help marketers maximise their return on investments, navigate market volatility and prepare for the slower summer season and the high impact peak periods ahead. Three ways to maximise ROI in a fragmented ecosystem 1. Invest in holistic measurement frameworks A robust, future-facing measurement strategy is the foundation of marketing effectiveness today. As measurement capabilities become more complex, marketers are rediscovering the value of holistic, aggregate approaches like Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM). Rather than over-indexing on short-term or last-click metrics, which no longer reflect the multi-touch, multi-platform reality of consumer behaviour, MMM allows marketers a clearer view of the long-term business impact. According to a recent eMarketer report, while 78 per cent of marketers still use last-click attribution, three in four are moving toward more sophisticated approaches like MMM. These insights highlight how MMM can uncover underappreciated channels and guide smarter budget allocation. The most forward-thinking brands are triangulating multiple measurement tools, combining MMM, incrementality testing, and advanced attribution, to form a more accurate picture of performance. This shift requires agencies and advertisers to rethink their KPIs, embed MMM into their planning cycles, and balance short-term performance tracking with strategic evaluation frameworks. 2. Let algorithms do the heavy lifting Managing campaigns manually across fragmented platforms is no longer sustainable. With consumers spread across countless platforms and formats, it's no longer about micromanaging placements, it's about setting the right objectives and letting platforms' algorithms work in real time. Features like Target Cost Bidding (tCPA) and Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) are helping brands automate bidding and budget allocation toward the highest-converting audiences. This approach requires advertisers to define exact KPIs upfront and trust the algorithm to optimise towards them, rather than defaulting to manual campaign adjustments. Brands embracing these strategies have seen tangible success, with tCPA and CBO improving cost per action (CPA) and cost per mille (CPM) performance while maximising conversion volumes. Still, each platform's algorithm behaves differently. Winning marketers tailor their strategy to each channel's unique dynamics rather than copy-pasting best practices. 3. Improve your data signal quality In a privacy-first world, your data inputs are your competitive advantage. The quality of the signals brands send to platforms is now one of the most critical performance levers. Stronger signals, whether via pixel, mobile measurement partners (MMP), or Conversions API (CAPI), enable more accurate targeting, smarter optimisation, and clearer attribution. For web advertisers using the Snap Pixel and integrating the Conversions API, Snapchat data shows a 22 per cent increase in attributed purchases and an 18 per cent improvement in cost per purchase. For iOS app advertisers using an MMP alongside CAPI, there is a 47 per cent increase in attributed installs. This is especially vital as regulations like GDPR and DSA, along with ecosystem shifts such as ATT and cookie deprecation, have strengthened consumer privacy protections and reshaped how data is collected and used. High-quality first-party data is no longer optional; it's essential to performance and future-proofing. In this complex but opportunity-rich landscape, the marketers who succeed will be those who evolve quickly and strategically. By investing in holistic measurement, leaning into algorithmic optimisation, and strengthening their data foundations, brands and agencies can navigate the shifting MENA media ecosystem with clarity and confidence. This trifecta – measurement triangulation, smarter execution, and strong signal quality – will enable marketers to cut through the noise, outperform competitors, and drive meaningful, measurable growth. Those who embrace this shift early will set the pace for performance marketing across MENA's increasingly complex and dynamic landscape. By Rasha ElGhoussaini, Head of Agency, Snap.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
It's been a big, beautiful week of bad news for Trump. But don't expect it to stick
Nothing is going according to plan for the Trump administration. The big, beautiful bill, originally vaunted to save the US taxpayer at least $2tn, so far, according to projections, delivers savings in the region of $9.4bn. Elon Musk has exited government, saying he wasn't in favour of the bill, which could be big, or beautiful, but in this case, not both. Musk's government contract ran for only 120 days, so it would have been up at the end of this week anyway. Just to try to lasso those words back to an observable reality where they might mean something, the bill isn't all that big; there are some very vindictive moves around Medicaid entitlement, intended to fund tax cuts elsewhere, that will have seismically bad outcomes for vulnerable individuals without necessarily burning a hole in anyone else's pocket. Tips and overtime are exempted from tax, but probably the only thing that's legitimately big, or if you like, huge, is the increase of the debt ceiling by $4tn. So it gives with one hand, takes away with the other, promise-wise – those tax exemptions were mentioned often on the campaign trail, but a government that causes havoc trying to shrink the state while simultaneously increasing the amount it can borrow isn't going to please anyone in either party but sycophants. As for 'beautiful' – the supplemental nutrition assistance program (Snap) will see reforms that throw more costs on to each state. Forty-two million low-income Americans are on Snap, and there would be more requirements upon those who are childless. Centring cuts on those who are already hungry has a cruelty that glisters in an age of necropolitics, but it lacks the scale, the granite finality, that 'beauty' would connote to these people. 'We have to get a lot of votes, we can't be cutting – we need to get a lot of support,' Trump said, in response to Musk's criticism, which seems to have enlivened in the president some fresh appreciation of how democracy works, though whether it will last until lunchtime is anyone's guess. The worry about Musk's departure is not that Doge will be lost without him, but that his criticism will embolden the hawks in Congress, who didn't want to vote for the bill in the first place. Then it really will be a puddle of words without meaning. Meanwhile, a US federal court struck down almost all Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs, in the classic judicial way, by deeming them an overreach of his powers. The ruling is purely on legislative grounds (Trump didn't wait for the approval of Congress) rather than on any economic grounds (that they would make everything much more expensive for the US public, obliterating the impact of any big or beautiful tax cuts with a single big-ticket purchase, particularly if any part thereof was made in China, which means almost everything). The justice department has filed an appeal. The observer could file all this under 'government: harder than it looks'. Moving fast and breaking things doesn't work. Borrowing and spending while slashing and burning in a formless, ad hoc fashion doesn't work. Billionaires with fragile egos, trying to cooperate while reserving the right to say whatever they like about each other, well, this has never worked. It would be the gravest imaginable mistake, though, to think that just because the wheels are coming off it this bus is losing its destructive power. One of the global indignities of the US spectacle is having to lose hours analysing the hidden meanings and augurs of the acts of men who don't, themselves, give one second's thought to anything. Did Trump mean to humiliate Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and if he didn't, what came over him, and if he did, what could we predict of the future of Europe? Did Musk mean to Sieg Heil, and if he didn't, has he lost his mind, and if he did, has he lost his mind? Did they mean to fall out, will they get back together, is this a pantomime, will one chase the other further from reality or back towards it? These questions fundamentally debase us, at the same time as giving the false sense of security that, once these guys step away from public life, singly or together, sense will be restored. The dangerous thing about them is the thing that makes them infinitely replaceable: there will always be another richest guy in the world; there will always be another high net-worth individual who has become separated from social values, not by the wealth itself but by the single-minded solipsism of its accretion. Trump and Musk could get to a place of such enmity that they eschewed the offices of state to spend the days mud-wrestling, and there would be no comfort to take from it, just a new double-act, with new peccadilloes that would be strikingly like the last. The federal court's decision is another matter, and can be mutedly celebrated until it fails to act on some other gross constitutional transgression. Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
