Twitter misses earnings expectations, partially blames revenue drop on Elon Musk takeover bid

Twitter reported earnings for the second quarter on Friday that missed analyst estimates on earnings, revenue and user growth.

Shares of Twitter fell as much as 2% in pre market trading.

Here are the key numbers:

• Earnings per share: A loss of 8 cents, adjusted, vs expected earnings of 14 cents, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts
• Revenue: $1.18 billion vs $1.32 billion
• Monetizable Daily Active Users (mDAUs): 237.8 million vs 238.08 million expected, according to Refinitiv

Twitter said revenue slid 1% year-over-year to $1.18 billion, which fell short of analysts’ projected $1.32 billion. The company partially blamed the revenue drop on ad industry headwinds tied to the broader challenging macroeconomic environment, as well as “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk.”

Given the pending acquisition by Musk, Twitter said it will not provide forward-looking guidance for the third quarter. 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.

Twitter is currently locked in a legal battle with Musk over his proposed $44 billion acquisition of the company. The Tesla CEO has tried to back out of the deal by claiming Twitter underreported the number of spam and fraud accounts on the platform, and failed to provide information he requested about fake accounts. Earlier this month, Twitter sued Musk and some of his associates over allegations that the billionaire “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”

On Tuesday, Twitter scored an early win when a Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor ruled in favor of an expedited five-day trial, which will take place in October.