Twitter blamed Elon Musk for the second quarter’s earnings falling short of analyst expectations as it escalated its battle with him in front of shareholders on Friday morning.
Due to challenges in the ad industry and “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk,” the company reported a loss of 8 cents per share as opposed to estimates of earnings per share worth 14 cents. The company also stated that it would not provide any third-quarter guidance and would not hold an analyst conference call due to the likelihood that the uncertainty would persist.
According to Twitter, the $44 billion acquisition offer has cost the company so far $33 million in expenses. These are likely to grow significantly throughout Twitter’s legal dispute with the Tesla founder, who has attempted to withdraw his binding offer to purchase the dominant social media platform. Earlier this month, Twitter sued Musk, alleging that he had neglected “his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests” and had refused to uphold them. In October, the trial is scheduled to start.
Positively, Twitter’s appeal to users of social media keeps growing. According to the company, there were 41.5 million monetizable daily active users (MDAU) in the U.S. at the end of the second quarter, an increase of almost 15%. In the entire world, that number increased by 17% to 196.3 million.
The amount of revenue in the second quarter was $1.18 billion, a 1% decrease from the prior quarter. The amount of costs and expenses increased by 31% to $1.52 billion. Twitter claims it spent $19 million on severance-related expenses in addition to the Musk-related charges.
