2020 hasn't been a great year to party so far, and that, unfortunately, will Party City ($PRTY) hard. The epicenter of all parties, the worldwide leader in party paraphernalia, simply got a bad roll of the dice when a super virus created a global outbreak and forced everyone to stop interacting with each other in close proximity. Tomorrow the expectation is for Party City to announce earnings of $0.88 per share for the quarter, and having seen what the stock looks like over the past few years, there will be less parties to celebrate at going forward.

But at least the employee count is slightly higher than it was before!

The last time we wrote about Party City, we reported on where the company was shuttering stores around the country. In spite of that, the number of employees continues to grow despite the stock falling precipitously. Staff count has grown by 80% since our data started in 2016, while the stock has dropped by 92% over that same time. Ouch. Not a lot to party over.

Party City has done a fantastic job of adding followers on social media. That is, until 2020 struck. For the first time, people are unfollowing and checking out of the party, which really is a shame because before January the growth was at 72%.

On Facebook, there are still millions who like Party City. The problem is that there are fewer likes, hundreds of thousands less than there were in 2018. The 'Talking About' count has also gone down considerably, which really makes you think; are there fewer parties going on in the nation, or just less of them are being set up by things bought at Party City?

The retail apocalypse does not discriminate in its destruction. 

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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