Meta, Alphabet and Pinterest stocks shaken by Snap warning

Shares of Meta Platforms, Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and other companies that sell digital ads fell late Thursday after Snapchat owner Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) blamed inflation for its slowest revenue growth since going public five years ago.

Snap was the first major social media company to release earnings for the September quarter, and the stock plunged 25% after the bell following the disappointing results. Snap warned that it would not see revenue growth in the normally busy holiday quarter. Shares of other internet advertising companies also fell, with Facebook owner Meta down about 4%, Alphabet down 2% and Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) down about 8%. In total, the sell-off in late trading wiped more than $40 billion off the stock market value of these and other internet advertising companies, including Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) and Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU). Snap's warning comes at a time when investors worry that the economy could be severely damaged by the US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes aimed at curbing decades of high inflation. Snap's stock, which last traded at around $8 per share, has plunged 90% since its record close in September 2021. Snap debuted on the stock market in 2017 with a highly anticipated IPO and priced its shares at $17. In a letter to investors, Snap said inflation has caused some advertisers to reduce their marketing budgets. The company's revenues for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 were $1.13 billion, up 6% from the same period a year earlier. The figure narrowly missed analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion, according to Refinitiv. The company announced in August that it would lay off 20% of all employees and halt projects such as gaming and flying camera drones to cut costs and steel itself against a worsening economy. Alphabet will release its quarterly results on Tuesday, followed by Meta's results on Wednesday. Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!