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I think Twitter was never profitable to start with.

by ozim 4y ago

mastax 4y ago
It was profitable from Q4 '17 on, with the exception of Q1-Q2 '20. https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-income-quarterly/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-incom...
masklinn 4y ago
Twitter was profitable in 2018 and 2019, took a deep dive in 2020, climbed way back up in 2021 though not quite to profitability. However pretty much the entirety of their revenue stream was ads, and Musk started taking a big dump on that early 2022.
ianburrell 4y ago
Twitter can be profitable. It made over billion dollars in both 2018 and 2019 on revenues of $3 billion. 2020 was big loss but can blame the pandemic. 2021 was small loss but would have been profitable except for lawsuit settlement. Without Musk, Twitter would likely have been profitable in 2022. No extra debt, no fleeing advertisers, no massive cuts. Some layoffs like everyone else is doing would probably have been enough.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  2020 was great for most online product revenue. Why is Twitter different?
  - notahacker 4y ago
    Twitter was selling ads to companies slashing their ad budgets, not products to consumers with a lot more screen time and a lot less access to stores or to businesses newly dependent on the internet to coordinate their newly remote workforce.
- edgyquant 4y ago
  > Twitter would likely have been profitable in 2022. Please back this up with an actual projection that says anything close to this. Twitter was not on track to ever be profitable before Musk bought it.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
freejazz 4y ago
If Twitter pulled the layoffs Musk did, without having taken on his debt, it would have posted profits that quarter.
- jurassic 4y ago
  Doubtful. Ad revenue is wayyyyyy down due to the impersonation/brand safety crisis Elon triggered with his erratic product moves. Letting any jokester with $8 impersonate global brands erased hundreds of millions in revenue per quarter from Twitter's bottom line. The debt situation is just an additional financial mismanagement cherry on top.
  - freejazz 4y ago
    Perhaps I wasn't clear, but this was before Elon bought it. Twitter easily could have posted profits that year if they did the firings he had ultimately done. I thought that temporality made it clear we are talking in a hypothetical but I guess I wasn't clear.

I think Twitter was never profitable to start with.

by ozim 4y ago

I think Twitter was never profitable to start with.

It was profitable from Q4 '17 on, with the exception of Q1-Q2 '20. https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-income-quarterly/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/299119/twitter-net-incom...

masklinn 4y ago

Twitter was profitable in 2018 and 2019, took a deep dive in 2020, climbed way back up in 2021 though not quite to profitability. However pretty much the entirety of their revenue stream was ads, and Musk started taking a big dump on that early 2022.

ianburrell 4y ago

Twitter can be profitable. It made over billion dollars in both 2018 and 2019 on revenues of $3 billion. 2020 was big loss but can blame the pandemic. 2021 was small loss but would have been profitable except for lawsuit settlement. Without Musk, Twitter would likely have been profitable in 2022. No extra debt, no fleeing advertisers, no massive cuts. Some layoffs like everyone else is doing would probably have been enough.

hgsgm 4y ago
2020 was great for most online product revenue. Why is Twitter different?
- notahacker 4y ago
  Twitter was selling ads to companies slashing their ad budgets, not products to consumers with a lot more screen time and a lot less access to stores or to businesses newly dependent on the internet to coordinate their newly remote workforce.
edgyquant 4y ago
> Twitter would likely have been profitable in 2022. Please back this up with an actual projection that says anything close to this. Twitter was not on track to ever be profitable before Musk bought it.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

freejazz 4y ago

If Twitter pulled the layoffs Musk did, without having taken on his debt, it would have posted profits that quarter.

jurassic 4y ago
Doubtful. Ad revenue is wayyyyyy down due to the impersonation/brand safety crisis Elon triggered with his erratic product moves. Letting any jokester with $8 impersonate global brands erased hundreds of millions in revenue per quarter from Twitter's bottom line. The debt situation is just an additional financial mismanagement cherry on top.
- freejazz 4y ago
  Perhaps I wasn't clear, but this was before Elon bought it. Twitter easily could have posted profits that year if they did the firings he had ultimately done. I thought that temporality made it clear we are talking in a hypothetical but I guess I wasn't clear.