Twitter revenues drop for first time
Social network's better-than-expected 11 per cent drop in advertising sees shares rise eight per cent

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Twitter has recorded a drop in revenue for the first time in its history as advertisers pull back from the social network.
However, the 11 per cent reduction in advertising last year, leading to an eight per cent fall in revenues in the first quarter of 2017 to $548m (£427m), was better than analysts had expected.
Combined with a significant increase in users, the news cheered investors and Twitter's shares rose by close to eight per cent overnight.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nevertheless, the latest figures cannot mask serious problems at the social media platform, says The Guardian.
Since it launched 11 years ago, Twitter has never turned a profit and in recent years "has struggled to maintain the scale of user growth it once enjoyed", even with a "boost" from Donald Trump following his election.
Its six per cent year-on-year increase in users pales in comparison to the numbers joining rivals such as Snapchat and Instagram, while it averages 328 million average monthly active users and Facebook sees more than 1.5 billion.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and chief executive, said he believed continuing to grow the site's audience would "result in positive revenue growth over the long term", despite the "revenue headwinds".
Last year, Twitter cut its global workforce by nine per cent, almost 350 people, and was rejected by a series of potential buyers, including Google and Salesforce.com.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
What to know when filing a hurricane insurance claim
The Explainer A step-by-step to figure out what insurance will cover and what else you can do beyond filing a claim
By Becca Stanek Published
-
How fees impact your investment portfolio — and how to save on them
The Explainer Even seemingly small fees can take a big bite out of returns
By Becca Stanek Published
-
Enemy without
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Elon Musk kills the bird
feature Is X a necessary evil or more of an expensive mistake?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Threads: Meta's Twitter clone gains a foothold
feature The competition to usurp Twitter is heating up
By The Week Staff Published
-
Can Linda Yaccarino save Twitter?
feature The new CEO is taking on a near-impossible job
By The Week Staff Published
-
Twitter: how are the company’s finances?
feature Elon Musk says Twitter is ‘breaking even’ but industry experts have slashed ad revenue projections
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Elon Musk: Remaking Twitter in his own image
feature Why the blue checkmark has lost its value
By The Week Staff Published
-
Is Mark Zuckerberg out of ideas?
Speed Read The subscription service Meta Verified sounds awfully familiar
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Can Twitter be blamed for the fall in Tesla's stock price?
opinion The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
By Joel Mathis Published
-
Musk: The unloved emperor of Twitter
feature Why did Twitter users vote for Elon Musk to step down as CEO?
By The Week Staff Published