Trump, Harris propose revenue raisers that could hinder economic growth: Snap CEO

In a letter to employees, the Snapchat owner expressed concern over the rapidly evolving regulatory environment, noting that it continues to strain their team. He highlighted that new legislation worldwide could impose additional compliance burdens if they are grouped with other tech companies, despite the distinct design choices they made while building their service.

San Francisco: Both the US presidential candidates (Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Kamala Harris) are floating new revenue raisers including tariffs and taxes, which could further slow economic growth, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has said.

In a letter to employees, the Snapchat owner said that rapidly evolving regulatory environment continues to strain their team.

“New legislation around the world may introduce further compliance burdens if we get lumped in with other tech companies despite the different design choices we made while building our service,” he mentioned.

Countries around the world are grappling with high debt loads and large ongoing budget deficits.

As the company plans for the coming year, “we can’t predict the future but we can extrapolate from what we know today. Economic data shows that the United States economy is slowing, with recession indicators like the yield curve and the Sahm Indicator flashing warning signs,” said the Snapchat Co-founder.

Spiegel said that court proceedings on the TikTok divestment legislation loom in the coming months.

He further wrote that we must continue to expect the unexpected.

“The uncertainty we’re anticipating around the world further emphasises the importance of diversified revenue streams including an advertising business serving a large number of advertisers bidding against lower funnel, direct response objectives, and subscription revenue from Snapchat+,” Spiegel emphasised.

The company has also taken steps to further fortify its balance sheet with more than $3 billion in cash and marketable securities and no meaningful debt maturities until 2027.

Snapchat community has grown to more than 850 million people, while growing content time spent over 25 per cent globally in Q2.

“Our lower growth rate reflects the ongoing evolution of our advertising business from one primarily driven by a small number of large customers spending against brand-oriented upper funnel goals to one that has a greater balance among different advertiser types and goals, with a much larger number of small- and medium-sized customers who are bidding against lower funnel goals,” he explained.