Livechat shares plummet after Facebook launches similar product

The shares of WSE-listed software producer Livechat dropped by 20 percent on Wednesday, after the news that social media giant Facebook introduced a Messenger plug-in for business websites, a product similar to the flagship one from Livechat. The extension will allow billions of Facebook users to talk directly with businesses on their websites using Messenger, and continue those conversations across the web, mobile and tablet devices. Livechat tried to spin the news positively, saying that Facebook announced such solution in April last year, and Livechat products are integrated with it anyways. “We see it as a chance for the whole sector to grow. We don’t see Facebook as our competition, but as an additional distribution channel for our products. We’re seen as a premium product with many advanced features such as analytics and customer service,” the company said in a press statement. It listed team collaboration software developer Slack as an example of a business that wasn’t hurt by Facebook implementing a similar solution (Workplace).