SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Twitter, Inc.
(NYSE: TWTR) today announced the company is withdrawing its revenue
and operating income guidance for the first quarter of 2020, as
well as its outlook for expenses, stock-based compensation,
headcount, and capital expenditures for the full year due to the
growing impact of COVID-19 on the global operating and economic
environment and their effect on advertiser demand.
While the near-term financial impact of this pandemic is rapidly
evolving and difficult to measure, based on current visibility, the
company expects Q1 revenue to be down slightly on a year-over-year
basis. Twitter also expects to incur a GAAP operating loss, as
reduced expenses resulting from COVID-19 disruption are unlikely to
fully offset the revenue impact of the pandemic in Q1.
Global conversation about COVID-19 as well as ongoing product
improvements are driving strength in total monetizable DAU (mDAU),
with quarter-to-date average total mDAU reaching approximately 164
million, up 23% from 134 million in Q1 2019 and up 8% from 152
million in Q4 2019.
"Twitter's purpose is to serve the public conversation, and in
these trying times our work has never been more critical. We're
seeing a meaningful increase in people using Twitter, and our teams
are demonstrating incredible resilience adapting to this
unprecedented environment," said Jack
Dorsey, Twitter's Chief Executive Officer. "We'll continue
to navigate this environment focusing on supporting our employees,
customers, and partners, while strengthening our service for
everyone around the world and adjusting to a new operating and
economic environment."
"Twitter had a strong start to the year before the effects of
COVID-19 began spreading more broadly, including a successful Super
Bowl and overall strength in the US. The COVID-19 impact began in
Asia, and as it unfolded into a
global pandemic, it has impacted Twitter's advertising revenue
globally more significantly in the last few weeks," said
Ned Segal, Twitter's Chief Financial
Officer. "We have made solid progress on our consumer and revenue
product priorities and we remain confident in our opportunity and
strategy. We hope everyone stays healthy and safe."
The company will provide an update on its Q1 2020 earnings call
on April 30 at 5am Pacific Time.
Appendix
First Quarter Earnings Release Details
Twitter expects
to release financial results for the first quarter of 2020 on
April 30, 2020, before the market
opens at approximately 4am Pacific
Time (7am Eastern Time). On
the same day, Twitter will host a conference call to discuss those
financial results at 5am Pacific Time
(8am Eastern Time).
About Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR)
Twitter is what's
happening in the world and what people are talking about right now.
From breaking news and entertainment to sports, politics, and
everyday interests, see every side of the story. Join the open
conversation. Watch live-streaming events. Available in more than
40 languages around the world, the service can be accessed via
twitter.com, an array of mobile devices, and SMS. For more
information, please visit about.twitter.com, follow @Twitter, and
download both the Twitter and Periscope apps at
twitter.com/download and periscope.tv.
A Note About Metrics
Twitter defines monetizable daily
active usage or users (mDAU) as people, organizations, or other
accounts who logged in or were otherwise authenticated and accessed
Twitter on any given day through twitter.com or Twitter
applications that are able to show ads. Average mDAU for a period
represents the number of mDAU on each day of such period divided by
the number of days for such period. Changes in mDAU are a measure
of changes in the size of our daily logged in or otherwise
authenticated active total accounts. To calculate the
year-over-year change in mDAU, we subtract the average mDAU for the
three months ended in the previous year from the average mDAU for
the same three months ended in the current year and divide the
result by the average mDAU for the three months ended in the
previous year. Additionally, our calculation of mDAU is not based
on any standardized industry methodology and is not necessarily
calculated in the same manner or comparable to similarly titled
measures presented by other companies.
The numbers of mDAU presented in our earnings materials are
based on internal company data. While these numbers are based on
what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable
period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring
usage and engagement across our large number of total accounts
around the world. Furthermore, our metrics may be impacted by our
information quality efforts, which are our overall efforts to
reduce malicious activity on the service, inclusive of spam,
malicious automation, and fake accounts. For example, there are a
number of false or spam accounts in existence on our platform. We
have performed an internal review of a sample of accounts and
estimate that the average of false or spam accounts during the
fourth quarter of 2019 represented fewer than 5% of our mDAU during
the quarter. The false or spam accounts for a period represents the
average of false or spam accounts in the samples during each
monthly analysis period during the quarter. In making this
determination, we applied significant judgment, so our estimation
of false or spam accounts may not accurately represent the actual
number of such accounts, and the actual number of false or spam
accounts could be higher than we have estimated. We are continually
seeking to improve our ability to estimate the total number of spam
accounts and eliminate them from the calculation of our mDAU, and
have made improvements in our spam detection capabilities that have
resulted in the suspension of a large number of spam, malicious
automation, and fake accounts. We intend to continue to make such
improvements. After we determine an account is spam, malicious
automation, or fake, we stop counting it in our mDAU, or other
related metrics. We also treat multiple accounts held by a single
person or organization as multiple mDAU because we permit people
and organizations to have more than one account. Additionally, some
accounts used by organizations are used by many people within the
organization. As such, the calculations of our mDAU may not
accurately reflect the actual number of people or organizations
using our platform.
In addition, geographic location data collected for purposes of
reporting the geographic location of our mDAU is based on the IP
address or phone number associated with the account when an account
is initially registered on Twitter. The IP address or phone number
may not always accurately reflect a person's actual location at the
time they engaged with our platform. For example, someone accessing
Twitter from the location of the proxy server that the person
connects to rather than from the person's actual location.
We regularly review and may adjust our processes for calculating
our internal metrics to improve their accuracy. Our measures of
mDAU growth and engagement may differ from estimates published by
third parties or from similarly titled metrics of our competitors
due to differences in methodology.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future
events or Twitter's future financial or operating performance. In
some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because
they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects,"
"plans," "anticipates," "going to," "could," "intends," "target,"
"projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts,"
"potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words or other
similar terms or expressions that concern Twitter's expectations,
strategy, priorities, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking
statements in this press release include, but are not limited
to, our financial guidance for the first quarter of 2020 and
outlook for the full year, trends in mDAU and drivers of such
trends, including the effect of COVID-19 and related impact on
Twitter's business, and Twitter's strategies, objectives and
priorities. Twitter's expectations and beliefs regarding these
matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected. These risks
include risks related to: the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on
our business and operations, including public health requirements
in response to the outbreak; changes to business, political and/or
regulatory conditions affecting our business, and the overall
global economy; and changes in our users', customers and
competitors' behavior. The forward-looking statements contained in
this press release are also subject to other risks and
uncertainties, including those more fully described in Twitter's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 as filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this
press release are based on information available to Twitter as of
the date hereof, and Twitter disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Contacts
Investors:
Cherryl
Valenzuela
ir@twitter.com
Press:
Giovanna
Falbo
press@twitter.com
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SOURCE Twitter, Inc.