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Twitter posts US$61m profit for Q1, after US$61.5m loss last year

Twitter has seemingly turned its financials around, boasting a US$60.997m adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter of 2018 – up from a US$61.569m loss for the same period in 2017. Twitter also claimed total advertising revenue of US$575m, an increase of 21% year-on-year.

The unaudited results come as social media rival Facebook posted a net income of US$4.988bn and claimed advertising revenue growth of 50%.

Twitter claimed 21% advertising revenue growth

Echoing the sentiments of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg – who said in his statement that the service was “taking a broader view of its responsibility” – Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said the company was taking steps to improve its platform.

“We also introduced a new framework to think more cohesively about the issues affecting our service, including information quality and safety,” he said. “This holistic approach will help us more effectively address these challenges by viewing them through the broader lens of the health of the public conversation, and we’re encouraged by our initial progress in this area.”

Ned Segal, Twitter CFO, said the company was pleased to report growth across all major products and geographies for the first quarter.

Twitter’s first quarter financial results (Click to enlarge)

“We grew total revenue 21% year-over-year and owned-and-operated advertising revenue 28% year-over-year, driven by continued audience growth, differentiated ad product features, improved ROI, and better sales execution. Our strong revenue performance drove better-than-expected profits and GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net margins of 9%, reflecting our continued prioritisation and disciplined execution across our strategic priorities.”

The company’s overall revenue for the first quarter was US$665m and adjusted EBITDA was US$244m.

In addition, it said its “total ad engagements” increased 69%.

Much like Facebook, the service also highlighted daily active user (DAU) growth, claiming 10% year-on-year growth, although the actual DAU figure was not available in the financial results release.

Monthly active users (MAU) were 336m for the quarter, an increase of 3% year-on-year, Twitter said.

By comparison, Facebook claimed 1.45bn daily active users and 2.20bn monthly active users.

Twitter’s highlights (Click to enlarge)

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