| | | | | Greetings from Los Angeles, where Snap Inc. has just filed for a $3 billion IPO, Bob Iger is too busy to meet with President Trump, and twin-bearing Beyoncé has officially made Les Moonves' day... This is Dylan Byers filling in for Brian Stelter... | | Snapchat parent Snap Inc. is seeking a $25 billion valuation on the NYSE, according to a newly released public filing. It'll be the biggest social media IPO since Twitter.
The filing also sheds light on Snap's financials, which are open to investor interpretation.
For the bulls: Snap's revenue skyrocketed to $404.5 million last year, up from $58 million in 2015. So, as expected, it's growing like gangbusters.
For the bears: Snap still isn't profitable. It lost $514.6 million last year. Moreover, its annual revenue is less than that of Facebook and Twitter before they went public, while its operating losses are significantly higher. "The scale of Snapchat's losses is staggering," Bloomberg's Shira Ovide writes.
What Snap says: "We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability."
Other key figures:
-- Snapchat claims 158 million daily active users.
-- Snap has 1,859 employees.
Our colleagues Seth Fiegerman and Matt Egan have all the details. | | Is Snap the next Facebook.... or the next Twitter?
Recode's Kurt Wagner: "In some ways, Snap does look like Facebook. The company finished 2016 with 48 percent year-over-year user growth, roughly the same growth rate of Facebook's daily audience the year before its IPO... But in more ways Snap's S-1 looks more like Twitter's S-1. Their revenue totals and number of employees are roughly the same. Neither company is profitable. And both companies have modest user bases, at least compared to Facebook."
Fortune's Matthew Ingram: "It's possible that Snap could revolutionize mobile messaging and the photo/video interface in the same way that Google reinvented search. And, theoretically, Snap might be able to find or invent a new form of advertising that is as big a revenue generator as search-related ads... But is that likely? Or is it more likely that Facebook and Instagram will suck a lot of the wind out of Snap's sails, as they have already by copying some of the company's innovations...?
| | | Evan Spiegel, 26-year-old billionaire | | However things pan out, Snap's IPO will certainly make CEO Evan Spiegel one of the world's youngest billionaires.
How wealthy? Recode's Peter Kafka estimates that Spiegel's stake in the company will be worth about $6.25 billion: "Once Snap finishes its IPO, the company will give him another 3 percent of its shares," Kafka reports. "If Snap goes out at a value of $25 billion, those shares will be worth $750 million... His 22% stake in Snap would be worth about $5.5 billion. Adding in the extra shares will get him to about $6.25 billion." | | | NYT joins Snapchat Discover | | | The New York Times is the latest media company to join Snapchat Discover. On weekdays, the Times will offer a daily edition of its Morning Briefing. | | Disney chief executive Bob Iger will not attend President Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum at the White House tomorrow. Iger was expected to appear at the meeting with other major American CEOs, but pulled out at the last minute.
The official word is that Iger has to attend a board meeting at Disney headquarters here in Burbank. But the last-minute announcement comes amid heavy pressure on the CEOs to stand up to Trump's executive order targeting people from Muslim-majority nations. | | Uber CEO Travis Kalanick went even further than Iger, dropping out of Trump's business advisory council altogether because of the president's immigration order.
From Kalanick's memo to employees: "Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community. I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that."
Kalanick's decision comes after the infamous #DeleteUber weekend, when many users deleted the Uber app because they were under the (false) impression that Uber was trying to break up a New York City Taxi Worker's Alliance strike.
Our colleagues Jeff Zeleny and Laurie Segall have the full details. | | Facebook faces 'fake news' resolution | | | Two small Facebook investors have filed a shareholder resolution calling on the company to issue a report about the impact "fake news" is having on the company and society. From Politico's Peter Sterne: "Arjuna Capital and Baldwin Bros. filed the shareholder resolution in collaboration with OpenMIC, a nonprofit organization... that works with investors on net neutrality and digital privacy issues. ... "The resolution warns that the prevalence of fake news on Facebook poses a number of risks to the company - including government regulation and fines and a loss in reputation that could lead users to abandon the platform...."
Read Sterne's full report here. | | | Steve Bannon makes 'Time' | | Chief White House strategist Steve Bannon graces the cover of tomorrow's Time Magazine as "The Great Manipulator. The headline on the inside asks: "Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World?"
From Time's David Von Drehle: "[I]n the early days at 1600 Pennsylvania, the portly and rumpled Bannon... has the tools to become as influential as any staffer in memory. Colleagues have dubbed him 'the Encyclopedia' for the range of information he carries in his head; but more than any of that, Bannon has a mind-meld with Trump...
"They share the experience of being talkative and brash, pugnacious money magnets who never quite fit among the elite. A Democrat by heritage and Republican by choice, Bannon has come to see both parties as deeply corrupt, a belief that has shaped his recent career as a polemical filmmaker and Internet bomb thrower. A party guest recalled meeting him as a private citizen and Bannon telling him that he was like Lenin, eager to 'bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today's Establishment.'"
Read the full profile here.
As you may have noticed, the Bannon-as-Puppet-Master trope is getting a lot of play...
New York Times Editorial Board, Jan. 30: "President Bannon?"
WaPo's Kathleen Parker, Jan. 31: "Steve Bannon is Trump's Conscience. Yikes."
GQ, Jan. 31: "In Case It Wasn't Clear Yet, Steve Bannon is Our President"
The New Yorker, Jan 31: this Tom Toro cartoon.
Throw-back Thursday: The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, Nov. 14, 2016: "Steve Bannon Will Lead Trump's White House"
So.... is Trump bothered by the Bannon-in-Chief narrative yet? | | From The New York Times' behind-the-scenes look at President Trump's decision to approve the raid in Yemen, which would result in the death of a Navy SEAL...
"With two of his closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, joining the dinner at the White House along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Mr. Trump approved sending in the Navy's SEAL Team 6..."
Bet neither Bannon nor Kushner envisioned this life last year when they were overseeing Breitbart News and The New York Observer, respectively. | | Another Breitbarter to the White House? | | Speaking of Bannon, Politico reports that he "is looking to bring in his own PR adviser, Alexandra Preate, into the White House. Preate has previously served as both Bannon's spokeswoman and a spokeswoman for Breitbart News."
She would join former Breitbart immigration writer Julia Hahn and former Breitbart national security editor Sebastian Gorka, both of whom joined Trump's White House last week. | | The Correspondents' Dinner is April 29 | | Yes, there will be a White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Despite doubts that the media's annual black-tie gala would take place in the Trump era, the White House Correspondents' Association has announced that it will hold its annual dinner on April 29 at the Washington Hilton.
There are plenty of critics -- "I swear to God, any reporter or journalist who attends this should be boycotted," Reza Aslan tweeted today -- but the WHCA is stressing that the dinner is meant to celebrate a free and independent press.
"This year, as we do every year, we will celebrate the First Amendment and the role an independent press plays in a healthy republic," WHCA President Jeff Mason wrote. "In the meantime, the WHCA will pursue its core mission of advocating for journalists' ability to ask questions of government officials, push for transparency from the presidency, and help Americans hold the powerful to account." | | Hat-tip to my former Politico colleague Hadas Gold for catching this one...
Back in October, 'Apprentice' producer/creator Mark Burnett issued a statement distancing himself from his former business partner Donald Trump: "I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump's candidacy," he said. "I am NOT 'Pro-Trump.' Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign."
On Thursday morning, however, Burnett introduced Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast and said their friendship was "one of the greatest relationships of my life."
So, which is it? | | After Burnett's introduction, Trump took a shot at his 'Apprentice' replacement:
"We had tremendous success on 'The Apprentice.' And when I ran for president, I had to leave the show... And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out... The ratings went down the tubes. It's been a total disaster, and Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings, OK?" Schwarzenegger's retort, posted in a short clip on social media: "Hey Donald, I have a great idea. Why don't we switch jobs? You take over TV because you're such an expert on ratings and I take over your job and then people can finally sleep comfortably again." | | -- The New York Times ends 2016 with a bang, and a whimper (Ken Doctor, Politico)
-- Breitbart still hasn't launched in France (Amar Toor, The Verge)
-- A former editor allegedly used Vice Canada to recruit drug mules for a global smuggling ring (Sean Craig & Adrian Humphreys, The National Post) | | NBC News responds to NABJ | | | Stelter emails: No new news about Tamron Hall's next stop yet, but Al Roker addressed her exit on Thursday's "Today" show. Meanwhile, NBC responded to the National Association of Black Journalists likening the schedule change to a "whitewashing." The group also requested a meeting with NBC leadership. The network's response: "NBC News has a long and proven history as an industry leader in newsroom diversity. We will continue to engage in the running dialogue we've had for many years with the National Association of Black Journalists and other advocacy groups to advance those goals..." | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | Stelter emails: We're still working on Sunday's lineup, but the guest list includes Evan McMullin, Carolyn Ryan, and Michael Wolff... | | | Countdown to the Super Bowl | | | In case you missed it yesterday, do read Mark Leibovich on "The Uncomfortable Love Affair Between Donald Trump and the New England Patriots."
"[Tom] Brady is friends with President Trump. So are the Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft, and Coach Bill Belichick. No sports team has been more closely associated with a new president, or perhaps any president, at least since Richard Nixon very publicly adopted the Washington Redskins as his own," Leibovich writes.
"Like Trump, the Patriots are a divisive juggernaut that tend to engender strong passions for and against... And no small number of fans are convinced that the Patriots (like Trump) achieve their victories through dubious means and wish they would just go away and get off their TVs forever." | | To play or not to play politics | | NYT's Sapna Maheshwari: "Advertisers pay millions of dollars for commercial space during the game, but the network and the NFL maintain the right to approve any ad... But with political tension in the country running high since the election of Mr. Trump, keeping politics completely away from the broadcast is a difficult task....
"Budweiser, for instance, has gained notice it wasn't anticipating for its Super Bowl ad. The commercial... recounts how the brewery's co-founder immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 1800s and notes the discrimination he overcame. Budweiser has emphasized that it is not responding to Mr. Trump's immigration crackdown last weekend." | | Trump-O'Reilly interview will be taped on Friday | | | Stelter emails: A correction to Wednesday's letter: Bill O'Reilly is not taping his Super Bowl Sunday interview with POTUS on Sunday, it is being taped on Friday. The Q&A will air on Sunday afternoon... It's not clear if Fox will share any excerpts ahead of time... | | Beyonce to play the Grammys | | Entertainment Tonight reports that Beyoncé has been added to this year's Grammy lineup. The news, which is likely to be a major ratings boon for host network CBS, comes one day after the performer revealed that she is pregnant with twins.
"The 35-year-old singer was spotted on Thursday rehearsing at a secret location in Los Angeles with a glam squad, camera crew and her team of dancers all in tow," ET reported.
However... There is still some concern among us Coachella ticket-holders that Beyoncé will not make her headline performance at the Coachella music festival in April.
Fingers crossed... | | Our colleague Lisa Respers France reports that, per Instagram, "Beyoncé's photo revealing her pregnancy is the first Instagram post to garner more than 7.2 million likes in less than 24 hours."
#NumbersDontLieCheckTheScoreBoard
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