Twitter blamed disappointing results Friday on “headwinds,” including the uncertainty imposed on the company by Elon Musk’s chaotic buyout bid.
The firm is locked in a legal battle with the mercurial Tesla boss over his effort to walk away from a $44 billion deal to purchase the platform, leaving the company in limbo.
Twitter missed expectations with revenue of $1.18 billion, due to “advertising industry headwinds… as well as uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk,” the company reported.
Also, in the current context of tightening credit conditions and economic turbulence, many companies like Twitter that rely heavily on ads are suffering from a decrease in advertisers’ budgets.
Despite the less than stellar results, Twitter’s stock closed up nearly one percent at $39.84, as investors seemed relieved the news wasn’t worse.
By comparison, Snap’s stock finished down 39 percent a day after the parent company of messaging app Snapchat reported disappointing earnings.
Twitter’s results cover the period ending in June so don’t include Musk’s move in July to try to “terminate” the deal on the argument that the platform was not forthcoming about its tally of fake accounts.
The social media network, which is a key exchange of ideas, news and entertainment, has countered by saying the Tesla chief already agreed to the deal and can’t back out now.
