With around 300 jobs set to disappear, Twitter is looking at how to bounce back from a disappointing quarter.
Revenues rose 8% to $616m in the three months to September and while that was better than forecast, it was lower than the 20% rise in the previous quarter. The social media giant stayed in the red with a $108m net loss, with Twitter seemingly wide off the mark in its goal to become profitable by 2017.
Alongside the job losses, Twitter is also planning a restructuring of the business. The restructuring, which focuses primarily on reorganising the company’s sales, partnerships, and marketing efforts, is intended to create greater focus and efficiency to enable Twitter’s goal of driving toward GAAP profitability in 2017.
“Our strategy is directly driving growth in audience and engagement, with an acceleration in year-over-year growth for daily active usage, Tweet impressions, and time spent for the second consecutive quarter,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO.
“We see a significant opportunity to increase growth as we continue to improve the core 
service. We have a clear plan, and we’re making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth. The key drivers of future revenue growth are trending positive, and we remain confident in Twitter’s future.”
The disappointing quarter and job cuts came in Twitter’s first report following the failure of a potential sale of the company. Takeover interest started strong, with the likes of Google, Walt Disney and Facebook all named as potential suitors for the company.
However, interest fell sharply, with Salesforce the only real prospect left in the running. However, Salesforce walked away, with CEO Marc Benioff telling the FT: “In this case we’ve walked away. It wasn’t the right fit for us.” The news prompted Twitter shares to fall more than 5%, while Salesforce shares were up 5.2% at close of trade in New York.
Content from our partners
