Tech

Snap briefly jumps after rival Instagram loses its founders

Key Points
  • Shares of Snap jumped as much as 5 percent Tuesday after social media rival Instagram lost its co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
  • By market close, the stock had settled to more modest gains. 
  • The photo-sharing apps have long taken cues from each other.
Evan Spiegel, CEO and co-founder of Snap Inc.
Adam Galica | CNBC

Shares of Snap jumped as much as 5 percent Tuesday after social media rival Instagram lost its co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. By market close, the stock had settled to more modest gains. 

The photo-sharing apps have long taken cues from each other. In 2016, Facebook-owned Instagram introduced a Stories feature similar to Snapchat's main functionality. Earlier this week, Snap announced a partnership with Amazon to aid social-based shopping — a space Instagram has been eyeing for months.

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The simultaneous exits of Instagram's founders could signal trouble at the company and lead to a tumultuous transition period — either of which could be good for Snap.

The stock closed Tuesday 1 percent up at $9.06. 

Snap's stock has been on a downward swing in recent weeks, down roughly 20 percent in the last 30 days. The shares are more than 50 percent off their 52-week high.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.

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