By Nate Wolf

In a world where a shop owner or a start-up founder can "vibe code" a website in a matter of hours, Wix.com faces an uphill battle.

Wix stock plummeted Wednesday after the web development platform reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results.

The company posted adjusted earnings of 68 cents for the first quarter, down from $1.55 a year ago and much lower than the $1.24 analysts had expected, according to FactSet. Revenue jumped 14% to $541.2 million, but fell shy of Wall Street's call for $544 million.

Wix chalked up the wide earnings miss to investments in its Base44 app-building platform and higher marketing expenses. Sales and marketing costs rose 50% from last year to $167.8 million.

The stock slid 29% on Wednesday. Shares are down 72% over the last year as investors worry about disruption by artificial-intelligence tools.

Wix has responded by integrating AI into its own offerings. Base44, which saw outsized demand in the quarter, utilizes AI. The company also built a proprietary large-language, or LLM, model using its own data and user feedback.

"As innovation in the web and app building space has accelerated over the past few quarters, my conviction in its long-term value and Wix's market positioning remains strong," CEO Avishai Abrahami said in a statement.

The company believes this LLM will give it a competitive advantage and control over AI costs, "with little to no reliance on third party LLMs," Abrahami added.

But developing AI technology comes with its own costs and no guarantee of success. Users consume AI bandwidth, so more demand means higher compute costs for Wix. These costs will be front-loaded and decline over time, the company argues.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

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May 13, 2026 11:42 ET (15:42 GMT)

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