Twitter layoffs come atop surprisingly strong profit

From CNET: The service, which has amplified the voices of everyone from Katy Perry to Republican nominee Donald Trump, remains a niche player. The company's user growth has flat-lined, and efforts to transform the service into a live-streaming hub have yielded mixed results.

Even Twitter's allure as a platform for voices is starting to fade. Last month, the San Francisco-based company was the object of potential acquirers, like Salesforce, Google, Microsoft and Disney. But no one wanted to pull the trigger.

The reality of Twitter's situation was driven home Thursday when the company announced a new round of layoffs, which had been widely rumored. It will cut up to 9 percent of its work force, with many of the charges related to the layoffs likely to occur in the fourth quarter.

"We have a clear plan, and we're making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement.

Growth continues to be an issue. In the third quarter, Twitter reported monthly active users of 317 million -- a key measure of audience. In the year-earlier period, it had reported 320 million monthly active users, although 13 million were "SMS fast followers" who use the service via text message. Excluding those users, Twitter grew a measly 3 percent.

Revenue was $616 million, up 8 percent, and better than analysts' estimates of $608 million. Profit minus some costs was 13 cents a share, beating the 9 cents estimate of analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.

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