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by ajc-sorin 3179 days ago
A quick glance at Twitter's 2016 Annual report: 2016 Revenue: 2.5B 2015 Revenue: 2.2B 2014 Revenue: 1.4B 2013 Revenue: 660m

In the past 2 years, Revenue almost doubled. Over 700m gets spent on R&D each year - if they cut that they become profitable day 1.

The article says "by all metrics Twitter has failed," but only quoted the lagging (buy still positive) rate of new users and declining stock price.

The may have missed opportunities, but to say Twitter "failed" or "Doesn't have a business model" is ignorant of the financial facts: Twitter could cut R&D investment, stop acquiring companies or building features and have a return on assets almost 50% greater than Facebook's. Twitter may not be as 'profitable' as Facebook, but it sure as hell uses its assets better.

It does seem like Twitter is starting to reach an upward cap on its virality. If management doubles down on making a well-oiled machine instead of trying to be the next Facebook, they could be a great dividend investment. This isn't sexy, but it's definitely an enviable position.