World News – UA – Twitter posts paltry gains in new users in Q3

Twitter Inc shares fell 18% on Friday after the company reported significantly fewer new users in the quarter than analysts estimated, dashing optimism that the social network would benefit a return of live sports and the next US election

The company reported 187 million daily users at the end of the quarter, an increase of 29% from last year, but a paltry gain from the previous period By comparison, Twitter added 20 million new users in the second quarter

Advertisers, however, returned to the San Francisco-based company in the third quarter, generating sales well above analyst estimates, a sign that digital advertising business is back after the outbreak of the global pandemic

Twitter is one of three internet companies under intense pressure from US officials over their handling of political content Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified alongside executives of Facebook Inc and Google during a panel of the Senate Wednesday In Thursday’s results, the company did not give a forecast for the holiday quarter, but suggested that the uncertainty around the 3 election could have an impact on the business

« It’s hard to predict how advertiser behavior might change, » the company wrote in its letter to shareholders « In the second quarter, many brands slowed or halted spending in response to US civil unrest, only to increase spending relatively quickly thereafter in an effort to catch up »

Twitter shares fell to $ 43 15 at 10:03 am New York after closing at $ 52.43 The stock had gained 64% this year through Thursday

There were concerns that Twitter activity could be affected by a large advertising boycott in July, when a number of top brand marketers pulled spending from social media companies out of frustration with their content moderation policies

Twitter, unlike Facebook, has long relied on live events and big brand advertisers, but said in April that it also needs to improve its direct response ad product, which is typically more useful for advertisers than e-commerce seeking to generate immediate sales At the time, Twitter executives called better execution of these types of ads « top priority »

In the letter to shareholders, Twitter said that a new version of these types of announcements are now delayed until 2021 so the company « can accommodate new industry standard mobile privacy requirements.Ned Segal, CFO, confirmed that the delay is in part due to expected updates related to Apple Inc New iOS 14 software Some changes to Apple’s software will affect the way online advertisers can track people across the web , but they were postponed until early next year Twitter is waiting to see how they are implemented, Segal said

Twitter hasn’t released any advice for the holiday quarter, but in a conference call with investors, executives were repeatedly asked to provide some sort of update Segal said October “ had a similar setup to September, ”a suggestion that the period started on a positive note

He warned that November would be more difficult to predict due to the uncertainty surrounding the US election

« When advertisers choose to pause or slow down because there is a bigger discussion about our service, when they come back they often spend the budget they set aside for Twitter because their goals and their reach goals aren’t It hasn’t changed, « Segal said

Sales rose 14% to $ 936 million in the period ended Sept. 30, Twitter reported on Thursday This was the biggest jump since the second quarter of 2019 Analysts forecast a drop of 5 % to $ 7805 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg In the letter to shareholders, Twitter cited the return of live events, such as professional sports, and product improvements as key drivers

Twitter said in July it was exploring other lines of business, including subscriptions and « payment wall management, » but these efforts were not highlighted in the letter to shareholders

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