What We're Reading

The impending IPO of Snap Inc., the parent of social media platform Snapchat, is shrouded in mystery, typical of the way business is run at the company. To maintain control of the company, its founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are expected to reportedly hold about 70 percent of the voting power following the IPO, with new investors getting no voting rights.

Ad Dollars On Upward Trajectory

Notwithstanding the limited visibility into the IPO, advertisers are warming up to Snapchat. Ad firm WPP's CEO Martin Sorrel told CNBC that its clients spend about $90 million on Snapchat in 2016, which is a notable increase from the $30 million WPP predicted at the start of the year. Given the ad spend statistics, Sorrel believes the company's total revenues could be higher than what the markets have been anticipating.

Advertising Revenues Of Facebook, Twitter

Quarterly filing by Facebook Inc FB 0.64% showed that ad revenue totaled $6.82 billion in the September quarter of 2016, with 50 percent

"Just setting up my twttr" – those were the words that Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Twitter, tweeted on this day ten years ago to begin yet another social media success story. Twitter, with its simplicity and unique 140-character limit, hit a nerve and quickly gained a following among the tech- and media-savvy. In 2011, Twitter passed the 100-million user milestone and in late 2013 the company went public with huge fanfare.

Everything was well in the Twitter universe, but soon after the company’s successful IPO, the sentiment turned sour. Twitter’s user growth was tapering off quickly and the company continued to lose money. In 2015, Twitter’s share price began to tumble and has been on a downward trajectory ever since. It is becoming increasingly clear that, contrary to earlier projections, Twitter is not a second Facebook and probably never will be.

When Facebook celebrated its 10th anniversary a little more than two years ago, the company was much bigger in almost every aspect.

The market for U.S. millennials is expected to blossom to $1.4 trillion by 2020, according to international consulting firm Accenture. While this generation of digital natives is already a primary marketing target today, in the upcoming years millennials will make up a hefty 30% of all retail spending in the country.

However, millennials are complex and notoriously difficult to read, even for professional marketers. With values that seem to contradict one another, it’s a challenge for companies to successfully gain market share with this audience.

As millennials mature, researchers are gaining ground on the needs and wants of this generation. This week’s Chart of the Week shares data from a comprehensive survey of 3,500 millennials that were asked, without any prompt, about their favorite brands over the past three years. The results, which can be found in deeper depth here, help give us some insight as to what millennials look for in a brand.

Tech Brand Disparity

It’s likely that no

For Twitter and Facebook, the two principal combatants in the world of social media, e-commerce is emerging as the newest battleground.  One would think that Amazon's June unveiling of it's Fire phone should be pushing the transition even faster.

Twitter announced on Thursday that it had agreed to acquire CardSpring, a mobile payments infrastructure company that allows merchants to offer deals to consumers that can be loaded onto to their credit cards. When the card is used to pay at the store, the coupon is automatically applied.

CardSpring advertises itself as a company that makes it easy for developers to link digital applications to credit or debit cards.

For Twitter, the potential uses are obvious: If you see a retailer’s tweet promoting a particular product and want to get the deal, you might soon be able to click a button or send a reply to simply add the discount to a stored credit card — without leaving Twitter’s site or firing up another app. For the last couple of years, T

1999: Priceline.com, ($PCLN) which had gone public at $16 a share exactly one month earlier, closes the day at $162.375 -- giving the tiny Internet company a one-month return of 914.8% and a total market value of $23 billion. It's probably the fastest and stupidest stock run-up yet recorded. But it's all downhill from here, as Priceline.com ends up losing 99% of its value by the end of 2000.

Fast forward 15 years and everyone books airfares and hotels online.  Everyone.  PCLN closing price yesterday was $1154.84 after reaching an all time high of $1378.96.  Oh to have bought that dip!

Was TWTR the tech top in the recent bull market?  Will we reach a new high and wait for Alibaba?  Are we in a Fed-induced bubble or as Einhorn states, only in select areas?  What are your thoughts?

Data courtesy of JasonZweig

• ADP, GDP and FOMC all in one day.  While no one is truly expecting any change from the FOMC (taper) plan, one never knows.
• Lackluster forward guidance seems to be the recent earnings mantra (no surprise).
• Bulls need a follow through to the upside today
• TWTR beat however issued disappointing outlook.  This may be the "show me" stock for 2014 where disbelievers will have to be proven it's potential vs. $FB.  The good news:  you'll be able to buy it cheaper. The company's second quarter revenue forecast was $270M-$280M against consensus of $272.9M. Twitter's (TWTR) adjusted EBITDA guidance of $25M-$30M was lower than Q1's $37M result. In Q1, monthly active users rose 6% sequentially and 25% Y/Y to 255M, roughly inline with expectations. Timeline views rose 6% sequentially, and just 15% Y/Y to 157B. Ad sales rose 125% Y/Y to $226M amid a barrage of new ad products.

• Saving down, lending up and tapering combine in a perfect storm.  One of our favorite bloggers CalifiaBeachPundit
• More tech companies are experiencing DDoS cyber attacks including SAY Media (Typepad), Meetup, Basecamp, Vimeo, Bit.ly and others.
• 51% of Americans are unsure of the validity of the Big Bang theory.  For many it's because it can't be seen or seems too far away  A look at the iron triangle of science, religion and politics,
• For the first time in history, the rich find themselves working longer than the poor.
• The Fed must choose:  more jobs or lower inflation.
• Shipments through the port of Los Angeles jumped 34% spurring a bit of (recovery) conversation today on Wall Street
• Google follows Facebook and Twitter with app-installed advertising.