Photo Credit: Esther Vargas / Flickr.com
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) continues to stumble under the cautious eyes of the stock market. Mixed earnings results coupled by investor pressure to show monetization and margin is driving the company to desperate measures. The latest casualty is its Vine app.
Twitter’s Financials
For the September ended quarter, Twitter’s revenues grew 8% over the year to $615.93 million with an adjusted EPS of $0.13. The market had forecast revenues of $604 million and an EPS of $0.09.
By segment, Advertising revenues grew 6% to $545 million data licensing and other revenues grew 26% to $71 million. Mobile advertising revenue was 90% of total advertising revenue.
By region, revenues from the US grew 1% to $374 million and international revenues improved 21% to $242 million.
Among operating metrics, average monthly active users (MAUs) grew 3% over the year to 317 million and reported a growth of 4 million over the previous quarter. Average US MAUs grew 1.5% and average international MAUs grew 3.7% over the year. At the end of the quarter, Twitter had 67 million US-based users and 250 million international users.
For the current quarter, Twitter did not give out any revenue outlook. Instead, it projected an EBITDA outlook for the year of $700 million-$715 million, which is better than the market forecast of $699 million.
Twitter’s Cost Restructuring
Twitter is forecasting a reduction of 9% of its global staff, or 350 people, to address the demand for improved margins. Part of the reductions will happen in its sales and marketing teams as Twitter plans on integrating its sales channels. The reason for the enhanced focus on profitability improvement appears to be that a few prospective buyers passed on buying the company. Twitter had engaged Goldman Sachs in September this year to help plan a sale. Analysts have speculated its potential buyers to include companies like Salesforce, Microsoft, Disney and Alphabet – all of whom could benefit from a wide reaching social media service.
Leave A Comment