Snap Stock: Strong Forecast and $400M Perplexity Deal

Snap's Perplexity Deal: Desperate or Genius?

Okay, so Snap's doing a deal with Perplexity. $400 million? For what, exactly? To shove another AI chatbot down our throats? Because My AI is working out so well. Give me a break.

The press release is full of the usual corporate BS. "Enhance discovery and connection," blah, blah, blah. Let's translate that into actual English: "We're bleeding users, and we're hoping this shiny new toy will distract them long enough for us to figure out how to make money again."

943 million monthly active users, they brag. But how many are actually engaged? How many are just drive-by users who open the app once a month to see what their friends are up to and then promptly forget about it? And 75% of 13–34-year-olds? Yeah, well, those fickle zoomers will jump to the next big thing the second it drops.

And this Perplexity thing... an "AI-powered answer engine"? So, basically, it's just another search engine wrapped in a chatbot's skin. Why would I use that on Snapchat when I can just, you know, use Google? Or DuckDuckGo, if I'm feeling particularly paranoid that day.

The $400 Million Question

$400 million over one year? That's insane! What are they even paying for? Access to Snapchat's user base? I guess that's valuable... in theory. But are those users actually going to use Perplexity? Or are they just going to ignore it like they ignore everything else Snap tries to foist upon them? Snap partners with Perplexity on $400M integration, 2026 rollout

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says, "Our goal is to make AI more personal, social, and fun." Personal? Social? Fun? AI? Those words don't even belong in the same sentence! It's like trying to describe a root canal as a "relaxing spa treatment."

Speaking of money, they announced a $500 million share repurchase program. So they're spending nearly half a billion to buy back their own stock, presumably to prop up the price. Sounds like a company that's totally confident in its future, right? Snap Soars On Q3 Earnings, $500 Million Stock Buyback - Snap (NYSE:SNAP)

I mean, offcourse, it could work out. Maybe Perplexity will be a massive hit. Maybe everyone will suddenly start using Snapchat to ask AI-powered questions. Maybe pigs will fly and I'll win the lottery. But let's be real.

Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe this is all part of some grand master plan that I'm too dumb to understand. Nah. Probably not.

This Ain't Innovation, It's Just Window Dressing