Snap Inc. again shows why it should not have become a public company

The most important question not posed to Evan Spiegel, the co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. by Wall Street analysts during the company's conference call Tuesday, after its first-quarter earnings report, was: "What ever possessed you to go public in the first place?"

But the question was implicit in what the investment analysts did ask, and in their tone of voice, and even in the defensive replies offered by Spiegel, CFO Andrew Vollero, and Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan. They were asked why user growth has basically flatlined, why advertisers are evaporating.

"What caused the advertisers who were spending to pull back?" asked the man from Oppenheimer. "And what ... gives you