• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

3

Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Tech

Twitter’s One Bright Spot Flames Out in Latest Earnings

By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 26, 2016, 8:03 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Since going public in 2013, Twitter (TWTR) has faced immense pressure to show Wall Street that it can attract new users. For the past two years, it has struggled to do so, and last year, the company replaced its CEO in hopes of a fresh start.

Through the drama, Twitter’s advertising business has been a bright spot. Last year, under the well-respected COO Adam Bain, revenue grew 58%. In a February feature story about Twitter’s turnaround, I noted that many analysts believed that Twitter’s shares had hit the bottom, and that they could only go up. Only two of the 43 analysts covering Twitter had a sell rating on the stock. A Deutsche Bank analyst report from February sarcastically called Twitter “The Most Troubled 30%+ Compound Annual Growth Rate Company on Earth,” noting that the negative narrative around the company “feels a bit extreme.” The point being? Even if user growth had stalled, Twitter’s business was solid.

That view may have changed following the company latest quarter’s results on Tuesday. Twitter, which remains unprofitable, reported 36% in year-over-year revenue growth, at the bottom end of analyst expectations. More significantly, the company’s guidance for next quarter’s came in $88 million lower than analysts expected.

Investors were spooked: Twitter shares fell by 14% in after-hours trading.

On the company’s first quarter earnings call Tuesday, Bain blamed the Twitter’s revenue struggles on slower than expected “brand” spending.

CFO Anthony Noto pointed to potential macroeconomic headwinds (for example, ad spending in the restaurant category was weak) and noted that the entire Internet advertising category has not yet reported its earnings yet, implying that the digital advertising business had suffered overall this quarter. “The jury’s out as to how the whole category has shaped up across the board,” Noto said. (Yahoo and Google have already reported lukewarm earnings; only Facebook, which reports its quarterly earnings tomorrow, remains.)

For more about Twitter, watch:

Beyond macro headwinds, Twitter has fully penetrated the U.S. ad market, which is Twitter’s largest market for revenue, Noto said. Now, the company must increase its “share of wallet,” or the amount of money advertisers allocate to Twitter versus other forms of advertising. “Penetration has run its course,” Noto said. “Some of slowdown is moving from two dimensions of growth for those advertisers to one dimension of growth,” meaning that Twitter can only grow by increasing spending from existing advertisers in the U.S., not from finding new ones.

Bain defended Twitter against negative sentiment in the press (a question posed during the call), saying that the company re-signed deals with three of the four big advertising holding companies, all of which increased spending by around 40% over last year. He added: “And those are video deals.”

Video, and Twitter’s success selling video ads, was a big theme for this call. Curiously, Bain referred to Twitter’s existing ad products, the “Promoted Tweets” and “Promoted Trends” that he has been hawking for the last five years, as “legacy” products. The reason? Users like video ads better than Promoted Tweets, Bain said. Promoted Tweets are old news, video is the future.

And about that user growth, the all-important metric that Wall Street has previously obsessed over: Twitter actually added five million new monthly active users last quarter to 310 million. But investors didn’t seem to care.

About the Author
By Erin Griffith
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

senate
CommentaryCongress
One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass
By Neil Björkman and Betsy BrewerJuly 1, 2026
1 hour ago
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
CommentaryCareers
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
By Jeremy FainJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
OCBC rolls out its ‘avatar banking’ platform with ‘Wendy’ and ‘Wayne,’ two virtual financial advisors, as banks integrate AI into wealth management
AsiaSingapore
OCBC rolls out its ‘avatar banking’ platform with ‘Wendy’ and ‘Wayne,’ two virtual financial advisors, as banks integrate AI into wealth management
By Angelica AngJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Photo: Rocks balancing on driftwood, sea in background.
AIMarkets
Leveraged stock bets are ‘very concentrated in the AI ecosystem,’ Goldman Sachs warns
By Jim EdwardsJuly 1, 2026
2 hours ago
Sean McClain wears a lab coat
Startups & VentureTerm Sheet
Eli Lilly just placed a $40 million bet on the next injectable boom
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 1, 2026
3 hours ago
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on April 23, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo: George Chan/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Microsoft may cut thousands more jobs in a bid to control costs
By Andrew NuscaJuly 1, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
6 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
'Humanity has chosen to become idiots': This Brown professor switched to take-home exams after a mass shooting and discovered mass cheating
AI
'Humanity has chosen to become idiots': This Brown professor switched to take-home exams after a mass shooting and discovered mass cheating
By Catherina GioinoJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
1 day ago
The retired college professor fighting a $313 trespassing ticket in Wisconsin thinks he's part of a national struggle
Environment
The retired college professor fighting a $313 trespassing ticket in Wisconsin thinks he's part of a national struggle
By Catherina GioinoJune 28, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.