The 400-million-dollar (around 370 million euros) deal between Snap and Perplexity is dead. Announced in November 2025, killed in Q1 2026. Six months from signature to termination - and both sides call it an „amicable end".

When a company pays 400 million dollars to be integrated into someone else's product over a single year, it means: „we desperately need distribution". When the deal collapses after a few months, it means: „users aren't converting, or the product isn't working". In February, Snap already admitted the two sides „did not agree on a broader rollout". Translation: the test failed.

Snap meanwhile announced something else: 16 per cent of its global workforce - about 1,000 people - was laid off in April. The reason? „Progress on AI." At the same time, the AI integration deal with Perplexity falls apart. Both things are true at once: AI is replacing jobs, but AI integrations aren't working the way they were sold.

Snapchat has 483 million daily active users (up 5 per cent) and 965 million monthly. Numbers no Balkan marketing campaign can reach. But the platform itself is still looking for a way to monetise them - and AI integrations were one of the attempts. With Perplexity failing, the open question remains: what AI strategy does Snap have, beyond layoffs?

For Perplexity this is part of a broader strategy of „we pay for distribution because Google won't let us in the door". Where is so much money coming from when the company isn't profitable? From the same AI bubble feeding Anthropic, OpenAI and a handful of others. When it pops, it'll pop for everyone.