Twitter Posts First Loss In 2021 Even As Share Price Up On Buyback

Twitter’s shares jumped in early trading at the end of last week after it posted strong revenue growth last year and announced a $4 billion share buyback program.

Photo Insert: Twitter had an average of 217 million daily active users in the fourth quarter, up from 192 million a year earlier.

That’s despite losing money in 2021 and falling short of Wall Street expectations for user growth in the last three months of the year, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Revenue increased 37%, to $5.08 billion, compared with 2020. But the San Francisco company reported a net loss of $221 million for the year largely tied to the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit. In the October-to-December quarter, Twitter earned $182 million, or 21 cents per share.

Adjusted for one-time gains and costs, per-share earnings were 33 cents, hitting Wall Street expectations. Revenue grew in the fourth quarter to $1.41 billion, up 22% from the same period a year ago.

Twitter had an average of 217 million daily active users in the fourth quarter, up from 192 million a year earlier. The number increased by 6 million from the third quarter, but industry analysts had expected it to add 8 million users, according to the data provider FactSet.

The company authorized a new $4 billion share repurchase program that replaces a previous $2 billion program from 2020. Twitter shares rose about 2% in premarket trading. One big worry for investors has been Apple’s iOS privacy changes, which make it tougher for companies to track people for advertising purposes. That was part of the reason for Facebook parent Meta’s stock plunge last week.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic