Despite losing nearly 10 million users from the previous quarter, Twitter blew past Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates when it reported its third quarter financials on Thursday morning — sending its stock price surging in the process.
Twitter posted $758 million in revenue and earnings of 21 cents per share — easily passing analyst estimates of $702.6 million in sales and earnings of 14 cents per share. Revenue increased 29 percent year-over-year. Ad revenue, at $650 million for the quarter, accounted for most of its sales and also increased 29 percent year-over-year.
Most notably, the San Francisco-based company dropped 9 million users during the third quarter, falling from 335 million monthly users to 326 million monthly users. It’s the second straight quarter Twitter has posted declining monthly user growth. Daily active users increased 9 percent year-over-year, but Twitter continued to not disclose the total number of DAUs on its platform.
Twitter attributed the drop in users to several factors, including new European data protection laws, product changes to reduce automated accounts, and “decisions we have made to prioritize the health of the platform.”
Wall Street didn’t seem to mind the drop in users at first blush, with Twitter shares increasing 13 percent in pre-market trading to $31.15 per share.
Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, in a statement accompanying the earnings report, said the company has been able to “prioritize the long-term health” of the platform by doing a better job of removing troll accounts.
“We’re achieving meaningful progress in our efforts to make Twitter a healthier and valuable everyday service,” Dorsey said. “We’re doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up. We’re also continuing to introduce improvements that make it easier for people to follow events, topics and interests on Twitter, like adding support for U.S. TV shows in our new event infrastructure.”
Improving the “health of the conversation,” as the company routinely puts it, has been a primary focus for Twitter this year. Twitter joined several other Silicon Valley powerhouses, including Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, in permanently suspending digital shock jock Alex Jones in September. The week before, Dorsey went to Washington, D.C. and told Congress the company doesn’t target conservative voices. “Impartiality is our guiding principle,” Dorsey said.
Like Facebook, Twitter has scrambled to weed out trolls spreading fake news before the 2018 U.S. midterms. Twitter removed hundreds of accounts tied to the Iranian and Russian governments in August for sharing political misinformation.
For Twitter shareholders, it’s been a turbulent year heading into Thursday. Twitter shares enjoyed a significant rally in the first half of 2018, increasing from about $25 per share to $45 per share between the first of January and mid-July. But the company had since given up most of its gains for the year, after it reported a decrease in monthly users — from 336 million to 335 million — during the second quarter. Twitter shares closed Tuesday trading at $27.54 per share.
The company held a call at 8 a.m. ET to discuss its earnings.
James Woods' 12 Most Outrageous and Provocative Comments (Photos)
James Woods has a reputation for being one of Hollywood's most vocal conservatives. He's suggested that sharing his opinions on Twitter have taken him from a Hollywood A-lister, starring in films including "Casino," "Videodrome" and "Vampires," to being "blacklisted." On July 4, 2018, Woods' agent dropped him in an email, which the actor then shared on Twitter. “It’s the 4th of July and I’m feeling patriotic. I don’t want to represent you anymore. I mean I could go on a rant but you know what I’d say,” the email read. Woods proceeded to label his former agent a "political liberal" and let him know how he felt. But this exchange is just another in a long list of provocative opinions from the actor, many of which have sparked outrage on both sides of the political spectrum.
Woods took aim several times at Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson after her criticism of President Trump over what she referred to as his insensitive condolence call to a widow of a fallen veteran. In October 2017, Woods tweeted a photo of Wilson wearing a cowboy hat as "#ParasiteRodeoClown" and said that liberals wheeled out "clowns dressed as saloon hookers" as a distraction from the news.
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Woods has been a longtime supporter of Donald Trump, but even he called for the president to toughen up and asked for the President to "unleash the dogs of war." In a list of issues he said were affecting America, Woods tweeted in February, “Dear Mr. President, when will you get a Department of Justice with teeth? Voter fraud, criminal ‘sanctuary’ hideouts, mass illegal invasion, the opioid epidemic, gang murders, drug cartels are all rotting the soul of our blessed America. Unleash the dogs of war, sir. It is time.” What he left out from his list was any mention of school shootings. Also, Woods' tweet happened to be the same day that Trump met with victims of the Parkland shooting and lawmakers to address the issue.
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Woods ripped Google in April, saying that it "loathes Christians" after he noticed that there was no animated Doodle on its homepage celebrating Easter. The company issued a statement saying, "We don’t have Doodles for religious holidays, in line with our current Doodle guidelines."
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In July 2015, Woods filed a $10 million lawsuit against Twitter user "Abe List," who frequently trolled Woods online, but specifically over an insult that referred to Woods as a "cocaine addict." List called for the case to be thrown out, saying Woods was "like a bully who can dish it out but can’t take it." Woods attempted but failed to discover List's real identity. But then in a bizarre twist, the person who Woods sued died, and Woods took a victory lap by gloating and mocking the man's attorney, Lisa Bloom. Woods eventually dropped the lawsuit in 2017.
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In September 2017, Woods compared "Call Me by Your Name" to "NAMBLA" when he learned that the gay romantic drama involved an affair between a teenager and a 24-year-old. "As they quietly chip away at the last barriers of decency. #NAMBLA," Woods tweeted, referring to the critics championing the movie. The film's star, Armie Hammer, shot back at Woods and said, "Didn't you date a 19-year-old when you were 60?"
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After Armie Hammer called out Woods, actress Amber Tamblyn accused Woods of trying to pick up her and a friend when she was just 16. Woods called Tamblyn's claim "a lie," which led to an extended feud between the two actors.
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Anderson Cooper was criticized for rolling his eyes at Kellyanne Conway during an interview in May 2017. Woods escalated the situation with a homophobic "joke" by sharing a gif of the CNN host rolling his eyes and wrote that the expression was "as his butt plug dislodges during a newscast."
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Neil Patrick Harris called out Woods for his comments on a photo of a family posing with their "gender creative" son. "This is sweet. Wait until this poor kid grows up, realizes what you’ve done, and stuffs both of you dismembered into a freezer in the garage,” Woods said of the photo in July 2017. Harris called Woods "ignorant and classless," but Woods clarified his stance and said, "Using one’s child as a social justice propaganda doll is tantamount to child abuse. This is not about homophobia. Nice try though…,” and added that he has "more gay friends than Liberace."
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In the wake of Matt Lauer's ouster from "Today" in November 2017, Woods suggested that firing high profile media figures wasn't the result of the #MeToo movement, but rather was a way for companies to cut costs and save money. “Are big corporations using these unsubstantiated allegations as an easy way to dump expensive star contracts?” he wrote. Woods then said his tweet wasn't directly in reference to Lauer, and that he made similar claims after Bill O'Reilly was fired.
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Woods took a stand against Twitter in November 2016 when the company tried to ban accounts associated with the alt-right. “Since @Twitter is now in the #censorship business, I will no longer use its service for my constitutional right to free speech,” Woods wrote. Though he said he'd leave the social media platform, ultimately, his self-imposed ban didn't last.
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In August 2017, the President took to Twitter to tout his "excellent" job numbers and retweeted several followers and Fox News segments. Among those retweets was Woods, who said that those who hate the president do so pathologically. "I've never witnessed such hatred for a man who is willing to work for free to make his beloved country a better place. It is pathological," Woods wrote.
Woods set aside partisan politics to surprisingly defend President Obama in September 2016. Responding to a user who tweeted "we must kill and eat Obama," Woods tweeted at Obama's Secret Service, saying, "You might be interested in this person. I may disagree with #Obama on virtually everything. To threaten his life allegedly in jest is appalling and a federal felony @SecretService,” the actor tweeted.
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From feuds with Amber Tamblyn to Neil Patrick Harris to anonymous, deceased Twitter trolls
James Woods has a reputation for being one of Hollywood's most vocal conservatives. He's suggested that sharing his opinions on Twitter have taken him from a Hollywood A-lister, starring in films including "Casino," "Videodrome" and "Vampires," to being "blacklisted." On July 4, 2018, Woods' agent dropped him in an email, which the actor then shared on Twitter. “It’s the 4th of July and I’m feeling patriotic. I don’t want to represent you anymore. I mean I could go on a rant but you know what I’d say,” the email read. Woods proceeded to label his former agent a "political liberal" and let him know how he felt. But this exchange is just another in a long list of provocative opinions from the actor, many of which have sparked outrage on both sides of the political spectrum.
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