Twitter Earnings: Revenue of $616m Vs. $606m, Ads Revenue Was Up Too

Twitter’s earnings report of finally out and it beats expectations slightly. At the time of reporting this, Twitter shares were up 89 cents at $18.18 after its Q3 earnings reports.

Revenue for the quarter ending September stood $616m at 13 cents versus $606m at 9 cents a share expected. This also represents an 8 percent year over year increase.

Monthly average users (MUA) rose about 3 percent from the previous year while daily average users rose by another 7 percent. Now this is an area investors have been closely monitoring and the news that the rise in users could be somewhat encouraging news. Looking at the daily average user figures closely, the 7 percent figure is quite good since this rose 5 percent in the second quarter and 3 percent in the first. This steady rise is welcome even as many think the microblogging site is not adding users at a pace that would see it turn its financial fortunes around.

Now to the area of interest, Twitter advert revenue rose 6 percent to $545m while “data licensing” revenue rose 26% to $71 million.

On the entire report though, CEO Jack Dorsey said

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.”

This report comes after a series of speculations of a possible takeover of Twitter died down last week. Twitter would have to go it alone which is why reports of a 9 percent cut on jobs could be the first step. Analysts also believe Twitter could be in need of a full time CEO. Jack Dorsey who came back last year to replace Dick Costolo still retains his job as CEO at Square; a payment company .

Here’s all the big stories on Twitter and its takeover stories over the months.