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Something I've never been able to wrap my head around is how does Twitter make money? I mean real money. Not valuation of eyeballs, not VC cash, but honest to G

Something I've never been able to wrap my head around is how does Twitter make money? I mean real money. Not valuation of eyeballs, not VC cash, but honest to God profit? It has always baffled me and I wish I knew what the unicorns say to the VC's when (hopefully) someone asks this question.

niftich 10y ago
Selling display ads (ie. the same way Facebook and Google have done and succeeded)
- shard972 10y ago
  Didn't twitter say years ago they had a business model plan that didn't revolve around advertising?
ryanSrich 10y ago
Ads. Pretty incredible right?
michaelbuckbee 10y ago
Someone else mentioned targeted display ads already, but Twitter also licenses their full data set to Google (and others) previously for millions. 1 - http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/googles-slippery-slope-if-search-giant-pays-twitter-for-content-should-it-pay-all-publishers/ http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/googles-slippery-slope-if-...
eldavido 10y ago
Read their SEC filings: https://investor.twitterinc.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1564590-16-13646&CIK=1418091 https://investor.twitterinc.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=15645... If you've never read one of these, you might be surprised how much is disclosed, and in great detail to boot.
saretired 10y ago
They have revenue from advertising and from selling access to their data; what they don't have is profits. Twitter raised about $1.8 billion in convertible notes in 2014. The proceeds have helped them plug the revenue shortfall, however, the bonds mature in 2019 and 2021, and since the share conversion price is around $77, the bondholders will be looking for cash instead unless Twitter's stock price increases 4-fold from its current price. The overhang of these bonds is something I have not seen mentioned in comments about Twitter here; it has likely been a large factor for potential purchasers and it will be an increasing worry for the company and its shareholders unless the company manages to become solidly profitable.
nl 10y ago
Twitter makes ~$530M/quarter from advertising and ~$70M/quarter from selling bulk access to the Twitter data stream. These are revenue, not profit numbers. They spend a lot on people.

niftich 10y ago

Selling display ads (ie. the same way Facebook and Google have done and succeeded)

shard972 10y ago
Didn't twitter say years ago they had a business model plan that didn't revolve around advertising?

ryanSrich 10y ago

Ads. Pretty incredible right?

michaelbuckbee 10y ago

Someone else mentioned targeted display ads already, but Twitter also licenses their full data set to Google (and others) previously for millions. 1 - http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/googles-slippery-slope-if-search-giant-pays-twitter-for-content-should-it-pay-all-publishers/ http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/googles-slippery-slope-if-...

eldavido 10y ago

Read their SEC filings: https://investor.twitterinc.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1564590-16-13646&CIK=1418091 https://investor.twitterinc.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=15645... If you've never read one of these, you might be surprised how much is disclosed, and in great detail to boot.

saretired 10y ago

They have revenue from advertising and from selling access to their data; what they don't have is profits. Twitter raised about $1.8 billion in convertible notes in 2014. The proceeds have helped them plug the revenue shortfall, however, the bonds mature in 2019 and 2021, and since the share conversion price is around $77, the bondholders will be looking for cash instead unless Twitter's stock price increases 4-fold from its current price. The overhang of these bonds is something I have not seen mentioned in comments about Twitter here; it has likely been a large factor for potential purchasers and it will be an increasing worry for the company and its shareholders unless the company manages to become solidly profitable.

nl 10y ago

Twitter makes ~$530M/quarter from advertising and ~$70M/quarter from selling bulk access to the Twitter data stream. These are revenue, not profit numbers. They spend a lot on people.