Welcome to "#SocialStocks," The Fly's weekly recap of Wall Street's reactions to social media stock news.
TRUMP VS. TIKTOK: Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. on Sunday night halted the Trump administration's ban of downloads of TikTok. The Wall Street Journal's Katy Stech Ferek reported the judge said the Trump administration's actions against TikTok "likely exceed" the president's authority. The federal judge granted TikTok an injunction on September 27 which temporarily blocked the U.S. government's attempt to thwart new downloads and software updates of the app in the U.S. The decision has reportedly allowed TikTok parent ByteDance more time to win approval to form TikTok Global, which will be based in the U.S. and partner with Oracle (ORCL), Walmart (WMT), and other investors.
FACEBOOK PROMOTES FROM WITHIN: Facebook (FB) has promoted Alex Schultz to Chief Marketing Officer, combining user growth and marketing efforts into one role, Kurt Wagner and Sarah Frier of Bloomberg reported. Schultz, who is a part of Facebook's growth team, has worked at Facebook since 2007 and is taking the job following Antonio Lucio's departure in August.
FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM COMPATIBILITY FEATURES: Facebook said in a blog post yesterday that, starting this week, it is testing Accounts Center in settings on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. "Switching apps to post the same content or entering your credit card information dozens of times is a pain," the company said. "We want to make that easier while giving you better controls to manage your experience." Earlier, Facebook announced an update to Instagram DMs by introducing a new Messenger experience on the app. The company said it is connecting the Messenger and Instagram experience to "bring some of the best Messenger features to Instagram." "Watch Together lets you watch trending videos with friends on IGTV during a video call. We're also introducing vanish mode, where you can set messages to automatically disappear after they're seen," Facebook noted.
SNAP, PINTEREST GET ANALYST ATTENTION: Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris upgraded Snap (SNAP) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $28, up from $22, as he revised his valuation framework for digital media companies to better reflect what he believes to be greater similarities between internet and software companies - including core investment in R&D and engineering resources and the creation of high-utility technology platforms - than is implied in current valuations. He believes that at the core, "internet" companies are software development and distribution companies that largely focus on consumer rather than enterprise applications and he expects investors will continue to evolve their view to reflect this, which will drive incremental appreciation for internet stocks. Morris initiated coverage of Pinterest (PINS) with a Buy rating and $48 price target in the same note to investors.
Oracle
+0.08 (+0.13%)
Walmart
+2.61 (+1.90%)
Ticker changed to META
-1.01 (-0.39%)
Snap
-0.06 (-0.23%)
+0.81 (+2.00%)