Social media giant Twitter suffered a stock price crash of more than 21 percent in intraday trading today following the release of the company’s Q3 report. The company reported its slowest growth in years as many companies also bought less advertising on the platform at the same time.
Variety reports that despite beating Wall Street financial forecasts for the third quarter of 2020, Twitter’s poor user growth for the time period and an extremely uncertain advertising forecast for Q4 has caused the company’s stock to crash more than 20 percent.
Twitter reported a net gain of 1 million daily active users for Q3 totaling 187 million users worldwide, the slowest growth for the platform in three years. Analysts expected Twitter to report a gain of 10 million daily active users. The platform’s average daily users in the United States remained mostly flat in the third quarter at 36 million, Twiter reported a gain of 20 million daily users in the previous quarter.
Twitter reported revenue of $936 million in Q3, an increase of 14 percent year over year. This was an increase over analyst estimates of $775 million. Twitter’s net income was $29 million representing a net margin of 3 percent and diluted EPS of 4 cents. As of the time of the writing of this article, Twitter’s stock price is down by 21.11 percent to $41.36 per share.
Discussing Q4, Twitter stated: “As we approach the U.S. election… it is hard to predict how advertiser behavior could change.” The site further noted that in Q2 of 2020 many brands “slowed or paused” spending in reaction to civil unrest across the United States.
Twitter added: “The period surrounding the U.S. election is somewhat uncertain, but we have no reason to believe that September’s revenue trends can’t continue, or even improve, outside of the election-related window.” The company also told investors that the “strength and timing of the holiday shopping season is also likely to play out differently this year than it has historically, with a buying season that may be accelerated and even more digital than ever before.”
Twitter recently decided to make a change to its policies relating to the sharing of “hacked materials” which resulted in the New York Post’s recent story about Hunter Biden’s business relationships being blocked. The company has faced intense pressure from conservatives and even some leftists in response to its massive censorship.
Breitbart News recently reported on the New York Post’s bombshell story that indicated that Joe Biden may have met with an adviser to the board of Burisma while he was Vice President, arranged by his son Hunter, who was working as a lobbyist for the company at the time. Joe Biden has previously said, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
But, the leaked emails allegedly show that Hunter introduced his father to a Bursima executive less than a year before Biden, acting as Vice President, pressured the Ukrainian government into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company. Shortly after the story broke, many found themselves having trouble sharing it across social media. This censorship comes just weeks after executives from both Facebook and Twitter joined the Biden transition team.
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Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com