Tweet costs Snapchat $1.3 billion

By ABBY LLOYD

Kylie Jenner, one of the most influential people in the world today and the wealthiest of the Kardashian-Jenner family, can now add making an impact in the stock market to her list of accomplishments.

Kylie Jenner tweeted on Feb. 21, “sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me … ugh this is so sad.”

Exactly one day later, Feb. 22, Snapchat’s stock dropped six percent, which was about $1.3 billion.

Kylie’s tweet referred to Snapchat’s newest update, which made it harder for people to view their friends’ stories in the app. In the past week, Snapchat users have started a petition to get it changed back to the original layout. CNN interviewed Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer and head of technology research at GBH Insights, who stated, “with roughly 25 million followers, Kylie Jenner carries a loud mouthpiece that speaks to today’s knee-jerk reaction in shares.”

In response to this petition, Snapchat released a statement saying, “We hear you, and appreciate that you took the time to let us know how you feel. We completely understand the new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many.”

The Kardashian-Jenner clan has an influence among millennials that many other celebrities don’t possess. They are at the top of their game.

However, Fast Company, a progressive American magazine, disagreed that Kylie Jenner had any impact at all on Snapchat’s downfall. Fast Company‘s most recent blog post titled, “No, Kylie Jenner didn’t kill Snapchat” talked about how a week before Jenner tweeted about Snapchat, Wall Street wasn’t fond of the company because of the recent changes in design. This prompted analysts from Citi to lower Snapchat’s stock from “neutral” to “sell” which could have had a large impact on their stock price falling rather than Kylie Jenner’s input.

So the question still begs, which do you think it was?