Amazon, Twitter Social Media Users Miss Expectations
Amazon.com, Inc. and Twitter, Inc. saw good growth from last year and beat analysts’ expectations during the first quarter. Amazon’s revenue was up 44 percent and Twitter’s 28 percent, but the social media company missed the mark on user numbers.
Amazon’s revenue increased 44 percent year-over-year to $108.5 billion, compared to $75.5 billion in the first quarter in 2020. The company beat analyst expectations of $104.5 billion.
The retailer benefited from the surge of online ordering during the pandemic.
“Two of our kids are now 10 and 15 years old—and after years of being nurtured, they’re growing up fast and coming into their own,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “As Prime Video turns 10, over 175 million Prime members have streamed shows and movies in the past year, and streaming hours are up more than 70 percent year-over-year. Amazon Studios received a record 12 Academy Award nominations and two wins. In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54 billion annual sales run rate business competing against the world’s largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating—up 32 percent year-over-year. Companies from Airbnb to McDonald’s to Volkswagen come to AWS because we offer what is by far the broadest set of tools and services available, and we continue to invent relentlessly on their behalf. We love Prime Video and AWS, and we’re proud to have them in the family.”
Twitter’s revenue was up 28 percent year-over-year to $1.04 billion. The cost per engagement was also up 19 percent. The US revenue increased 19 percent to $556 million, compared to the same year before.
The social media platform’s average monetizable daily active users were up 20 percent to 199 million compared to 166 million in quarter one of 2020.
The user numbers were down from what analysts predicted of 200 million. The company’s shares were down 0.9 percent in the regular session to close at $65.09 and fell 8.5 percent after hours on Thursday.
“People turn to Twitter to see and talk about what’s happening, and we are helping them find their interests more quickly while making it easier to follow and participate in conversations,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO. “Average monetizable DAU (mDAU) reached 199 million, up 20 percent year over year and up 7 million sequentially, driven by ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events.”
“Q1 was a solid start to 2021, with total revenue of $1.04 billion up 28 percent year-over-year, reflecting accelerating year-over-year growth in MAP revenue and brand advertising that improved throughout the quarter,” said Ned Segal, Twitter’s CFO. “Advertisers continue to benefit from updated ad formats, improved measurement, and new brand safety controls, contributing to three percent year-over-year growth in ad revenue in Q1.”
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