Twitter got a absoluteness analysis Wednesday as the high-flying messaging aggregation appear bashful user advance during a division in which it absent $511 million.
Even added disconcerting, in the eyes of some industry watchers, was that the archetypal bulk of time bodies spent blockage out timelines absolutely dropped.
“If you don’t accept an affianced user base, you don’t accept a business,” Forrester analyst Nate Elliott told AFP.
“They accept got to do added good on users, that is the absolute story.” Twitter makes money from ads in the anatomy of “promoted tweets” in timelines, and it needs able advance to accumulate its momentum.
Twitter shares skidded added than 17 percent to $54.24 in after-hours trades that followed its aboriginal annual balance absolution back its banal bazaar admission aftermost year.
The after-effects showed revenues in the division that concluded December 31 angled from a year ago to a better-than-expected $242.6 million.
But investors seemed black that the boilerplate cardinal of account users had climbed aloof 30 percent to 241 actor compared to the aforementioned division a year earlier.
The cardinal of common users was up aloof nine actor from the amount of 232 actor back Twitter went accessible aftermost November, suggesting alone bashful advance at a time back investors were attractive for a surge.
In its aboriginal balance address as a accessible company, Twitter said the accident for the year widened to $645 actor from $79 actor in 2012 alike as revenues added than angled to $664 actor for the abounding year.
The San Francisco-based close said announcement brought in $220 actor in the quarter, an access of 121 percent year-over-year, with adaptable accounting for added than 75 percent of total.
Data licensing and added acquirement totaled $23 million. International acquirement jumped 200 percent to $66 actor to accomplish up 27 percent of all revenues.
Shares in Twitter soared from the alms amount aftermost November of $26, and analysts say that to sustain that drive Twitter charge prove it can abound and move against profitability.
“Twitter accomplished a abundant year with our arch banking division to date,” arch controlling Dick Costolo said in the balance release.
“We are the alone belvedere that is public, real-time, communicative and broadly broadcast and I’m aflame by the cardinal of initiatives we accept underway to added body aloft the Twitter experience.”
Twitter has fast become engrained in accepted ability but charge still argue investors of its business model.
It is accepted to be able to ability advantage over time by carrying ads in the anatomy of answer tweets, and from its abstracts analytics.
However, “the botheration is that there are some austere caveats for advance ahead,” Jon Ogg of website 24/7 Wall Street wrote in a column about the earnings.
“Twitter’s banal is so far accepting a absoluteness check.” Costolo spent abundant of an balance alarm acceptable analysts that Twitter is alive on appearance and improvements advised to access up the cardinal of users, forth with how abundant they appoint with the all-around one-to-many messaging platform.
“It will be a aggregate of changes alien over the advance of the year that will change the abruptness of the advance curve,” Costolo said.
“We appetite to ability every being on the planet.” Twitter will be decidedly focused on authoritative it accessible for anyone to butt the account aural moments of a aboriginal appointment and on convalescent the acquaintance on smartphones and tablets, according to the arch executive.
Twitter, which has its roots in 140-character argument messages, additionally planned to get added visually agreeable with pictures and video.
During the balance call, Costolo told analysts that Twitter didn’t charge to change anything, it artlessly bare to accomplish “Twitter a added good Twitter.”
Forrester analyst Elliott criticized Twitter for about actual a one-trick pony back the San Francisco-based account launched in 2006.
Leading amusing arrangement Facebook, in contrast, has relentlessly added appearance or capabilities and its ranks of users now acme 1.2 billion people.
“It’s a bit vexing,” Elliott said. “Facebook is consistently abacus to the armpit while Twitter has been sitting on this distinct affection for their absolute existence.”
The online messaging account had been accepted to column sales of $218.2 million, on average.
But user growth, a carefully watched metric, appeared to falter.
It averaged 241 actor account users, up 30 percent from a year earlier.