Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has demonstrated in recent months that as long as people are flocking to the platform it can withstand torrid times. The social media company has been facing regulatory investigation and the situation looked bleak this week when all the regulatory issues came up at once. Despite this case, Facebook stock price is nearing $200 per share. With the obvious momentum, could this finally trigger a move across the tech industry as a whole?
A New Kind Of Technology
Facebook had been exploring interesting angles to connect the world. In some instances, the company has opened doors for restaurants to obtain mobile ordering options for its users. With more attention on this arena, a number of on-demand delivery technology companies have popped up. And the industry itself is on an expansionary trend.
Chinese investor and WeChat owner Tencent has joined a global lineup of investors seeking to write the biggest check in India’s food-technology sector for Swiggy. The online food-delivery platform has held discussions with a host of investors to raise $500-700 million, a significant portion of which Tencent wants to contribute, according to people familiar with the talks.
Another app called Rappi is a Colombian on-demand delivery startup that has brought in a new round of funding at a valuation north of $1 billion, as first reported by Axios and confirmed to TechCrunch by a source close to the company. DST Global led the more than $200 million in financing with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, all of which were existing investors in the company.
Major Drivers Being Developed By Smaller Companies
Private companies are mostly driving these billions and trillions of dollars that are being poured into this new On-Demand Economy. The average retail investor has little opportunity to take advantage of it, especially considering this idea of global expansion that could turbo-charge industry growth.
ParcelPal (PTNYF) (PKG) may be presenting new opportunities that now draws comparisons to the way early investors had an opportunity with companies like Uber and GrubHub (GRUB) before they went mainstream in the US. GrubHub priced its initial public offering at $26 per share and now trades nearly 5x that price just as this market is beginning to heat up!
The difference with ParcelPal (PTNYF) (PKG) is that it is going directly after the international markets that have very limited access to technology like this right now. In fact, the major players in the industry are just beginning to get their feet wet with beta testing; they aren’t even full speed yet.
In an effort to expand its reach in North America, ParcelPal (PTNYF) (PKG) has secured an office in Toronto, and is currently onboarding all key personnel to fill all necessary roles for the upcoming national rollout to Ontario. This is expected to occur shortly. ParcelPal is also actively looking to expand with new and existing partnerships within this region.
ParcelPal (PTNYF) (PKG) is also in late-stage planning for implementation of cannabis delivery in the province of Ontario. ParcelPal will make entry to strategic urban cities in the Province during the first and second phase of its rollout plan. Check out this video for more on ParcelPal:
What’s Next For Facebook?
The company was involved in a $5 billion privacy settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission as well as another $100 million settlement agreement with the SEC on a privacy-related issue. On Tuesday the US Justice Department announced an expected antitrust investigation with the company indicating on Wednesday that the FTC had initiated an official probe related to violation of antitrust regulations.
For over a year now these investigations have been brewing but so far none has appeared to have an impact on the ability of Facebook to attract new users as well as advertisers. In the second quarter of 2019 the company beat sale estimates of analysts and in the process delivered robust user growth.
Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Facebook while speaking about the fresh FTC probe and Q2 results said that the company is welcoming news rules so that they can be in a better position on ho0w they manage the operations of the world’s most popular social media platform.
Facebook Reports Strong Growth in Q2
Facebook stock price has been volatile. This is while the company has been battling data privacy issues, fake content and spread of hate on its platform for over a year now but that has not prevented advertisers from spending on the platform. Although the momentum of the growth of the Facebook app has waned there is still growth in users in other Facebook-owned apps. Around 2.7 million people are on Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp or Instagram each month.
The company has indicated that its Q2 sales beat analyst estimates of $16.5 billion growing by 28% to around $16.9 billion. Facebook has said that daily active users into their main platform stand at around 1.59 billion. Following the FTC fined the company has committed $2 billion in the quarter to settle part of the fine which follows the $3 billion that was set aside the previous quarter.
Shares of the largest social media company are up about 1% in after-hour session, extending its year-to-date gain to 54%.
