consumer services

Snap surprise disclosure that its second-quarter revenue and profit will be lower than expected sent its shares plunging and sparked debate over whether the social-media company’s woes signal a broader slowdown in the online-ad market.During a presentation at an investment conference, Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegelsaid “the macroeconomic environment has definitely deteriorated further and faster than we expected.” In a filing, Snap said it would miss the low end of its target for 20% to 25% year-over-year revenue…

Investors knew that the world wasn’t clicking for online advertisers right now. In a snap on Monday night, they grasped how dire the situation might be. Nearly every major player in the sector reported a notable slowdown in advertising revenue growth during the recent first-quarter earnings season. All but one actually missed Wall Street’s targets for that category as well. Then, in a surprise announcement, Snap Inc., SNAP -40.36% the…

DAVOS, Switzerland—Fears of an economic downturn have lately gathered steam. Corporate executives at the World Economic Forum here struck a mostly gloomy tone to match.“There is a cycle of mood,” said Alex Karp, chief executive of Palantir Technologies Inc. “You walk around and everyone thinks it’s going to be bad, so it’s going to be bad.” Mr. Karp isn’t alone, but the pessimism he says he’s picking up among other CEOs also isn’t uniform. “It will be…

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. must pay its former business partner SL Green Realty Corp. about $185 million in a dispute over a bankrupt Manhattan skyscraper, an arbitrator said. The arbitrator, former judge L. Priscilla Hall, found that real-estate investment trust SL Green was entitled to a $184.6 million payment over an investment that it made in HNA Group’s 245 Park Ave., according to documents made public in a New York state court Friday. SL Green should also be reimbursed for $856,000 in…

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund bought a stake Sunday in a firm owned by billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, further intertwining the government with a high-profile investor who was once detained by the state over corruption allegations. The Public Investment Fund agreed to pay Prince al-Waleed $1.51 billion for 16.9% of Kingdom Holding Co., a figure based on the closing price on the last trading day before the transaction was announced, according to a filing with the Saudi…

Match MTCH 1.74% Group Inc. withdrew its request for a temporary restraining order against Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG -1.56% Google, saying Google has made some concessions over its app store payment practices that Match Group demanded. The concessions include guaranteeing that Match apps, such as Tinder and Hinge, won’t be rejected or removed from Google’s app store for offering…

Match sued Google over Google’s Play Store payment system. Photo: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News…

A bipartisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Mike Lee introduced legislation Thursday that would take aim at conflicts of interest in the advertising technology industry and force Google to break up its dominant online-ad business.The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), is among the most aggressive of the legislative proposals circulating in Congress that aim to rein in the power of Big Tech. The Competition…

At the upfronts, as the television industry’s annual pitch event for advertisers is known, the traditional TV aspect of the spiel this year may have never been less important.Amid the hurtle toward streaming video, this week’s presentations were less focused on networks’ traditional hour-by-hour scheduling strategies and more about the actual content—now largely available to consumers wherever and whenever they want to watch. In some superficial ways, at least, the upfronts were a return to the norm. After two…

Investors have rebuked two dozen major U.S. companies over their executive-pay packages in nonbinding shareholder votes, sometimes by wide margins or for the second straight year.JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Intel investors owning roughly two-thirds of shares didn’t support pay plans at recent annual meetings. Coca-Colabarely won majority support with 50.5% of the vote this year. Investors have rebuked two dozen major U.S. companies over their executive-pay packages in nonbinding shareholder votes, sometimes by wide…