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Twitter sees record user growth, thanks to COVID-19
Twitter's growth has increased thanks to COVID-19, but it lost money in the process.
Spotify users are flocking to ‘chill’ playlists during COVID-19
Nobody's accessing Spotify through their cars and watches now, but game consoles.
Twitter doesn’t want to call its users ‘users’ anymore
Twitter has announced that, at least in its public documents, it's going to stop calling the people who use its platform "users." It's "an effort to demonstrate more empathy for the people who use Twitter," explains the company's most recent financial results covering the fourth quarter of 2019. Instead, it's reframing the talk to be about Monetizable Daily Active Usage, Twitter's shorthand for users people it can sell ads against.
Spotify reports 124 million paying users and 'exponential' podcast growth
"This was the highest net add quarter we've ever experienced," said Spotify in its fourth-quarter earnings report, adding that the service had added 10 million subscribers. The company is riding high after seeing the number of paying customers surge to 124 million and its overall user base grow to 271 million. It says that the source of (some) of this blockbuster success is the same as it has been for the last few quarters: Podcasts.
Netflix changes how it counts viewing popularity, pumps up 'The Witcher'
Netflix's final earnings results for 2019 are out (PDF), and in a year where it suddenly started to face more competition than ever before, the company says its service and content is only becoming more popular. The letter to investors claims that its new series The Witcher "is tracking to be our biggest season one TV series ever," and explains a new method for measuring those statistics. The new phrasing it's using is "choosing to watch," and as such, 76 million households clicked play and let The Witcher stream for more than a couple of minutes in the first four weeks since it was released.
Spotify's podcast strategy is starting to pay off
Spotify's strategy of owning a chunk of the podcast game appears to be paying off, at least according to its latest financial report. In the third quarter of 2019, Spotify says it saw "exponential growth" in podcasts, with a 39 percent increase in listens in just three months. The US is the biggest consumer of the format, but Spotify is also seeing bumps in a number of European countries. And those people who come to Spotify for podcasts are, according to the company, more likely to sign up for premium than others.
Twitter adds more users, but finds it hard to make money from them
In the last three months, Twitter added six million more users, but couldn't manage to sell any more ads to those eyeballs. At least, not in quantities enough to boost its bottom line, with net profit remaining the same as it was in the previous quarter. Then, as now, Twitter made $37 million in profit which, while nothing to sniff at, hints that the company may have a stasis problem.
Uber's next business idea: Lending money to drivers
Uber is reportedly looking into offering loans directly to drivers, according to a report from Recode. The ride sharing company recently sent out an in-app survey to some drivers that indicated the company is starting to build a "new financial product" designed to help Uber drivers "in a time of need." The survey contained a number of questions regarding the driver's previous use and future interest in loans.
Samsung to fight falling profits with midrange phones, 'mainstream' 8K
As Samsung expected, its Q2 profit is off from last year's by about 56 percent. An operating profit of $5.6 billion (6.6 trillion Korean won) is no small figure, but obviously not up to par for the electronics giant, and follow a similar result in Q1 of this year. A big reason for the fall is a drop in prices for memory chips, which Samsung is a major supplier of for products like smartphones and servers. It's also negatively affected by weak iPhone sales since it supplies Apple with parts, and is facing slower sales for its own high-end phone models. Last year Samsung was looking toward foldable devices to help turn around the trend, and after a delay it's still expecting the Galaxy Fold to join its Galaxy Note 10 as an "innovative" new product launch. According to the company's report, it's also pushing ahead on 5G.
Apple's wearables and services made up for weak iPhone sales
Apple's latest earnings report is out, and as many had expected, it's very much on-trend with the numbers we've seen coming out of Cupertino this year. The company managed to grow its overall revenue a little, raking in a total of $53.8 billion compared to $53.3 billion this time last year. That's... not a huge amount of growth, but it was enough to claim an all-time Q3 revenue record, according to CEO Tim Cook. Unfortunately, Apple's iPhone sales showed little sign of recovering — the company saw just under $26 billion in iPhone sales this quarter, continuing a streak of year-over-year declines.
Sony has sold 100 million PlayStation 4 consoles
Despite flagging sales of late, Sony's PlayStation 4 has sold 100 million units, making it the fastest-selling console to hit that number. In its latest earnings report, Sony revealed that it sold 3.2 million PS4s between March 31st and June 30th, after announcing last quarter that it had sold a total of 96.8 million units since the console came out. That means it hit the 100 million figure on the nose in 5 years and seven months, just two months quicker than Nintendo's Wii.
Google's hardware division is recovering from slow Pixel 3 sales
Just over a year ago, Google parent company Alphabet was hit with a $5 billion fine from the European Union for antitrust violations. As you might have expected, that put a dent in the company's profits -- but this year, there's no such issue to worry about and Alphabet's financials reflect that. In today's quarterly earnings release, the company is reporting revenue of $38.9 billion, up 19 percent year-over-year. And profits hit $9.9 billion, up 201 percent over a year ago. Even if you look at Google's accounting where last year's fine is excluded, profits are up 13 percent.
Netflix Q2 report points to price hikes for lower than expected growth
Netflix just released its financial results for the second quarter of 2019 (PDF), and a number that jumps out is that its service grew by 2.7 million subscribers. That's a problem for shareholders because in its last report, the company predicted it would be up about 5 million in Q2, and in the US it actually lost more subscribers than it added for only the second time ever, dropping by 130,000. While any results tied to its juggernaut Stranger Things won't show up until the Q3 report arrives in a few months, Netflix said "Our missed forecast was across all regions, but slightly more so in regions with price increases." Another possible reason for the gap between expectations and reality is its big Q1 -- the company experienced its second-largest period of subscriber growth ever with 9.6 million new customers. Whatever the reason, Netflix's letter is quick to make sure no one makes the mistake of attributing the gap to competition (which mostly hasn't launched yet: Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max or NBCU) or highly-viewed licensed content that will go away in the future like The Office. Apparently Netflix believes this opens up more space in its budget for original content, and that even hits like that only make up a "low single digit percentage of streaming hours" that members quickly replace with other options on its service. Otherwise, it updated numbers for some of its big hits, like Murder Mystery, which stars Jennifer Aniston alongside Adam Sandler and is now the service's most-viewed Sandler flick with over 73 million households watching in its first four weeks. It also confirmed that in India, it will launch a lower-priced mobile-only package in Q3, and pushed back against rumors that it will add advertisements, saying that it prefers to be like HBO.
Samsung faces 60 percent drop in profits, still plans foldable phones
A few weeks ago, Samsung warned investors that its Q1 profit would drop about 60 percent from the same period in 2018. Now the detailed report has arrived, confirming that projection with an operating profit of $5.4 billion that reflected a 23 percent drop in revenue from its memory chip business. Samsung also suffered smaller drops in the mobile and consumer electronics divisions. Still the company claims "the newly launched Galaxy S10 smartphone logged solid sales." Paired along with its midrange A series, it expects market demand to increase slightly in the next quarter even as prices drop. Once item it didn't mention in the report is the now-delayed Galaxy Fold, however the future of foldable devices is still expected to increase profits in its display division. It still believes foldable devices, along with the Galaxy Note and 5G will help "strengthen" its leadership in premium smartphones. Its earnings call is still ongoing, if there's any notable news we will update this post. Update: In response to a question, Samsung executives said they expect to announce a new launch date for the Galaxy Fold in the next few weeks. They still believe it will find a place as a premium device for consumers looking for a new kind of experience, and their conviction that it will create a new category of devices has not changed.
Spotify has 100 million Premium users
Spotify has 100 million Premium users, the company has announced in its most recent financial figures. In total, the streaming service has 217 million users, 117 million of which are enjoying the free, ad supported tier.
PlayStation 4 sales finally slow down (updated)
Sony is warning that it expects to make even less profit in the next year, as PlayStation 4 sales slow down and it invests in its replacement. In the last year, 17.8 million consoles were sold, less than the 19 million sold in 2017. The PS4 is approaching a major milestone — there are currently 96.8 million consoles out there, buoyed by 36.4 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, adding crucial monthly revenues to Sony's accounts.
Twitter still has a growth problem
If you read enough of the news, you might think that Twitter (and its CEO) is laying dead in the water for all to see. But, in its most recent financial statements, the company is proudly declaring that it isn't dead yet, and may not be for some time. In the last three months, Twitter's user numbers rebounded and its operating income continued its slow, but steady, rise.
Netflix reaches 148 million subscribers, will test 'top 10' lists
The first Netflix earnings report since its latest price hike and the unveiling of competitors from both Disney and Apple is here. Last year at this time Netflix crossed the 125 million subscriber mark with its second biggest quarterly addition of subscribers ever. Now it has over 148 million subscribers around the world, and added 9.6 million in the last three months, more than the 8.9 million it expected.
Samsung sees its Q1 profit drop 60 percent from last year's record
Samsung just released guidance for its Q1 2019 earnings report, and estimates an operating profit of 6.2 trillion won (about $5.5 billion), which is less than half of the $14.4 billion profit it recorded in the same period last year. Samsung had issued an unprecedented warning for investors of bad news on the way, citing declines in prices for memory chips, and lower demand for screens like the OLED display it makes for Apple's iPhone. We'll have to wait a few more weeks for a detailed breakdown and final numbers, but in its last earnings report Samsung noted how it hoped the Galaxy S10 series would help turn things around. The prediction for overall revenue dropped by only fourteen percent, to 52 trillion won. The last time Samsung saw a drop of this magnitude, we were looking forward to the Galaxy Note 4 and 4K TVs. Now the company hopes investments in data centers will drive more demand for memory, and that the high-priced Galaxy Fold can drive profits by enticing competitors to use its flexible display tech for their own devices.
Huawei proves people are still buying new smartphones
The US-led Huawei backlash isn't hurting the company's bottom line. Buoyed by strong smartphone sales in its native China, the electronics manufacturer reported a 19.5 percent increase in 2018 revenue, breaking the $100 billion mark for the first time. Net profit also surged by over 25 percent compared to a year ago to hit 59.3 billion yuan ($9 billion).