That’s not the only reason Twitter is having revenue problems. The company also cites problems in the ad industry — see Snap’s poor performance yesterday — and the general economic environment. But “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk” is the most Twitter-specific problem on the list. Ad sales reportedly in ‘disarray’ Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter in April and is trying to back out of it just weeks later. Ultimately, Musk filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in an attempt to formally end the deal earlier this month, and the two sides are now headed to court in October. Twitter hopes to get Musk to follow through on the acquisition, which will command a premium over the company’s current share price. For now, though, the chaotic acquisition appears to be making it harder for Twitter to sell ads. Bloomberg previously reported that Twitter was trying to assuage advertiser concerns about how Musk might change the platform, while Ad Age reported more recently that the drama has thrown the company’s ad sales into “disarray.” That said, Twitter’s ad sales were still up 2 percent year-over-year, even as overall revenue was down. But the company needs to grow revenue from ad sales much faster. Twitter reported a net loss of $270 million, down from a profit of $66 million in the same quarter last year. The revenue number is much worse when looking at the growth trajectory. This time last year, Twitter’s revenue was up 74 percent year over year. Now it’s shrinking. One thing Twitter won’t credit Musk for? The development of its users. The service reported reaching more than 237 million daily users, up from 229 million last quarter. This, of course, was due to “continuous product improvements”.
