Twitter blames revenue slide on Elon Musk takeover uncertainty

theguardian.com:

Twitter has blamed a drop in revenue on uncertainty around Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover bid for the business and weak advertising revenue.

The social media company said revenue for the three months to 30 June was $1.18bn (£986m), a decline of 1% on the same period last year, which it said reflected “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment” as well as “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter” by the Tesla chief executive.

The company also revealed that costs related to the bid, which Musk now wants to abandon, ran to $33m in the quarter.

Higher costs also helped push Twitter into a net loss for the three months to 30 June compared with net income – a US measure of profit – of $66m for the same period last year.

Musk’s $44bn bid overshadowed the results, with Twitter deciding not to put forward executives for a results conference call due to the takeover situation.

The world’s richest person has pulled out of the deal, citing uncertainty over the number of spam or fake accounts on the platform, but Twitter has filed a lawsuit demanding Musk goes ahead with the deal as per a legal agreement that he signed in April.