Not even president can jumpstart Twitter
No ‘Trump bump’ as revenue misses for 10th quarter in a row
Twitter missed Wall Street estimates on revenue in the fourth quarter, marking the 10th consecutive quarter of slowing revenue growth despite an uptick in user engagement propelled by President Trump’s avid use of the social media service.
For the quarter, Twitter posted revenue of $717.2 million, a 1% increase from a year ago. Analysts had projected fourth-quarter revenue of $740 million, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Twitter had a net loss of $167.1 million.
CEO Jack Dorsey said his company is focused on why people use Twitter: “It’s the fastest way to see what’s happening and what everyone’s talking about.”
Activity on the service did increase in the fourth quarter, but slow user growth continued to take a toll. For the quarter, Twitter had 319 million monthly active users, up 4%. Twitter says daily active usage in the fourth quarter was up 11%. Time spent on Twitter grew in the double digits, the company said.
Despite Twitter’s growing visibility on the world stage with Trump using his personal and POTUS accounts, the company’s chief operating officer Anthony Noto said it would be difficult for any one event or person “to drive sustained growth.”
Shares of Twitter plunged 12% to $16.41, partly on a much lowerthan-expected earnings forecast. For the first quarter, Twitter projected adjusted earnings between $75 million and $95 million. Analysts expected about $182 million.
Twitter has taken several steps to attract more users, including partnerships with the NFL to stream Thursday night football games and user updates such as changes to the home timeline and an emphasis on push notifications when news happens.
“It may have felt like we weren’t changing much this past year, but those hundreds of little changes added up to more predictable and sustained growth we will now use as a foundation to be more inventive and take bigger risks,” Dorsey said.
Meanwhile, overall advertising revenue fell slightly compared to the same period last year, with ad revenue generated in the U.S. down 5%.