Twitter Posts Q2 Earnings, Misses Revenue Expectations Amid Abandoned Musk Takeover Deal

Micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday reported its quarterly results in which it missed expectations amid issues over the acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk and advertising industry headwinds.

Twitter is in the middle of an ongoing battle with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who abandoned a $44 billion deal to buy the micro-blogging platform. Image: Getty

Micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday reported its quarterly results in which it missed expectations amid issues over the acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk and advertising industry headwinds. Twitter's revenue fell one per cent in Q2 and missed analyst estimates on earnings, revenue and user growth in a first-ever annual decline since the middle of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the media has reported.

Twitter is in the middle of an ongoing battle with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who abandoned a $44 billion deal to buy the micro-blogging platform. The company's revenue fell 1 per cent YoY to $1.18 billion that missed analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Twitter's shares fell 2 per cent in pre-market trading too.

According to a report by CNBC, in the wake of the pending acquisition by Musk, Twitter said it will not provide forward-looking guidance for Q3. It’s also not hosting a conference call with analysts to discuss the earnings results.

Twitter said costs related to the acquisition were approximately $33 million in Q2, the report added.

Meanwhile, as micro-blogging site Twitter prepares to sue billionaire Elon Musk for scraping the $44 billion acquisition, a judge earlier this week ruled in Twitter's favour that a five-day trial should begin in October citing a "cloud of uncertainty" over Twitter, the media has reported. Musk's legal team had opposed Twitter's bid to fast-track its lawsuit to push the billionaire into completing the deal and proposed a trial in February.

According to a report by CNN Business, Twitter's lead counsel William Savitt came out swinging against Musk at the start of the hearing as he argued in favour of a speedy trial. The Twitter counsel said the continued uncertainty hanging over the company from the outstanding deal and litigation "inflicts harm on Twitter everyday, every hour and every day."