Snap Finance Chief Stone Quits After 8 Months; Shares Drop

(Bloomberg) -- Snap Inc. Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone is resigning eight months after joining the social-media company, sending shares tumbling in extended trading.

Stone’s departure isn’t related to any disagreement on the company’s accounting, strategy, financial or other practices, the Snapchat parent said Tuesday in a filing. He’ll remain in the role until a replacement is named and can take over his duties. Snap shares, which have fallen more than 50 percent in the past year, dropped 8.4 percent after the close of regular trading in New York.

Stone, who came to Snap from Amazon.com Inc., was seen as an important veteran executive hire after a lot of tumult. Since the company’s March 2017 initial public offering, most of Snap’s top executives have defected, including the heads of legal, strategy, product, engineering and sales. In August, Snap provided a revenue forecast for the first time, which analysts attributed to Stone improving transparency.

Alongside the announcement of Stone’s departure, the Los Angeles-based company said it expects to report quarterly results for sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization that are "slightly favorable to the top end" of previous forecasts. In October, Snap projected fourth-quarter revenue of $355 million to $380 million.

When the company discloses earnings on Feb. 5, analysts will be paying attention to a different number: daily users. Snap’s audience has been on the decline for two straight quarters, as users were turned off by a redesign of the mobile photo-sharing app and as competition mounted with Facebook Inc.’s Instagram.

The company’s shares had gained 3.7 percent to $6.54 in regular trading on Tuesday. The stock has rebounded a bit since closing at a record low of $4.99 in December -- 71 percent below the IPO price of $17 a share.

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