SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Snapchat’s corporate parent has disclosed that its ad sales are being hurt by a privacy crackdown that rolled out on Apple’s iPhones earlier this year, raising investor fears that the app’s financial growth is going into a tailspin.
Snap’s shares plunged by nearly 22% in Thursday’s extended trading. If that decrease is mirrored in Friday’s regular trading session, it will approach the stock’s previous one-day nadir in May 2018 when its price also plummeted by nearly 22%. A decline of that magnitude would wipe out nearly $30 billion in shareholder wealth.
The change blocks online tracking on iPhones unless a user grants explicit permission to do so, making it more difficult for companies that sell ads based on the information they collect about people’s interests and location.