Twitter trims down losses and adds 4M users in Q3

When Twitter reported that it is on the verge of delivering a profitable bottom line, its shares surged by more than 18 percent. Twitter also managed to slim its quarterly losses to just $21 million in Q3 2017 despite a shrink in revenue, and its predictions for the final quarter of the year are even more optimistic.

The third quarter earnings of Twitter showed a net loss of $21 million, but that was sharply lower than the same period in 2016 when it was in the red to the tune of $103 million. Underlying earnings rose by 14 percent to $207 million. The company also announced that it had discovered an error in the way it calculated its user base since 2014 and revised its estimate downward, though the difference amounted to less than 1 percent and the disclosure seemed to have little negative impact on investors.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey said, "This quarter we made progress in three key areas of our business: we grew our audience and engagement, made progress on a return to revenue growth, and achieved record profitability. He further said, "We're proud that the improvements we're making to the product continue to bring people back to Twitter on a daily basis."

Twitter said it had 330 million active users in the third quarter, which is up four million from the past three months. The company has stepped up efforts to keep people engaged through live streaming deals including concerts, sporting events, and news programmes. Also, Twitter began a test of tweets as long as 280 characters - double the existing cap.

Meanwhile, the micro-blogging site also announced that the company would no longer accept ads from Russia Today and Sputnik, two organizations named by U.S. intelligence agencies as propaganda outlets that sought to disrupt the election.