Snapchat UK loses over £500m despite revenue spike
The UK arm of Snapchat lost more than $757m during its latest financial year despite its revenue spiking to over $2bn, it has been revealed.
For 2024, Snap Group has reported a pre-tax loss of $757.7m (£565.8m), new accounts filed with Companies House show.
The latest total is down from the pre-tax loss of $1bn (£746.9m) it posted for 2023.
However over the same period, Snapchat’s revenue surged from $1.6bn to $2.1bn.
Snapchat said the main reason for the increase in its revenue was a combination of growth in advertisers and auction-based advertising demand and “optimisation efficiencies”.
During the year, the average number of people employed by the UK arm of Snapchat fell from 437 to 395.
For the same financial year Snap Inc, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, reported a revenue of $5.3bn, up from $4.6bn.
Its net loss also reduced from $1.3bn to $698m over the same period.
Snapchat to charge for Memories feature
The results come after Snapchat announced at the start of October that it will start to charge users for storing their photos and videos.
The messaging app has allowed people to save and store their previously posted content in its Memories feature since it was introduced in 2016.
However, Snapchat said at the start of this month that users with more than five gigabytes (GB) worth of Memories will need to pay to keep them available.
In a statement announcing the move, Snapchat said: “When we first launched Memories, we never expected it to grow to what it has become today.”
It added: “It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it, but we hope the value we provide with Memories is worth the cost.
“Thank you for trusting us with some of your most precious moments.
“These changes will allow us to continue to invest in making Memories better for our entire community.”