Twitter achieves first billion dollar quarterly revenue as user numbers rise

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has said the social network is “learning faster” and “prioritising better” as it achieved one billion dollars in quarterly revenue for the first time.

Total revenue between October and December last year hit 1.01 billion dollars (£778.3 million), an increase of 11% on the same period in 2018.

The tech giant also said it now has 152 million users – which it defines as monetisable daily active users – a jump of seven million on the previous quarter, and up 21% compared to 2018.

But despite positive revenue net income is down, standing at 118.8 million dollars (£91.6 million) against last year’s 255.3 million dollars (£196.8 million).

Twitter said the drop was due to “ongoing investments across our top initiatives to drive growth and better serve the public conversation”.

The company claims it continued to proactively limit the visibility of unhealthy content, resulting in a 27% decline in bystander reports on tweets that violate its terms of service.

It comes at a challenging time for the social network, with high political drama from the UK General Election and a US presidential election due later this year.

“2019 was a great year for Twitter,” said Mr Dorsey.

“Entering 2020, we are building on our momentum – learning faster, prioritising better, shipping more and hiring remarkable talent.

“All of which put us in a stronger position as we address the challenges and opportunities ahead.”