Twitter首次報告盈利

First ever Twitter profit hints at ad challenge for Google and Facebook
Twitter首次報告盈利

Twitter reported its first profit yesterday, sending its shares to their highest levels in two years and suggesting advertisers are beginning to spread their online spending beyond Facebook and Google.

Twitter昨日首次報告盈利，推動其股價升至兩年來最高點，并顯示廣告商正開始將其在線支出從Facebook和谷歌(Google)擴大到其他公司。

Its $91m in net income in the fourth quarter comes after a similar upbeat pre-Christmas performance by Snapchat’s parent, which posted strong revenue growth on Wednesday following unexpected increases in users and advertising.

該公司在第四季度實現凈利潤9100萬美元，此前Snapchat母公司也公布了樂觀的圣誕前業(yè)績，周三報告收入強勁增長，用戶量和廣告收入意外增加。

For years, Wall Street has been sceptical that smaller internet companies such as Twitter and Snap could ever challenge the dominance of Google and Facebook, which together account for more than three quarters of global spending on digital advertising.

多年來華爾街一直懷疑，Twitter和Snap等較小互聯網公司能否挑戰(zhàn)谷歌和Facebook的霸主地位，這兩個互聯網巨擘加起來占全球數字廣告支出的四分之三以上。

This week’s turnrounds at Twitter and Snap follow signs of strain in their larger rivals’ dominance. Alphabet’s shares weakened last week after it spooked Wall Street with a big jump in the cost of distributing Google’s advertising and services on mobile platforms. Facebook also came under pressure as it reported its first drop in North American usage and a decline in time spent on its apps at the end of last year.

在本周Twitter和Snap報告業(yè)績出現起色之前，有跡象表明，它們的較大競爭對手的霸主地位面臨壓力。Alphabet股價上周下跌，原因是移動平臺的谷歌廣告和服務分銷成本大幅上升，驚嚇了華爾街。Facebook也面臨壓力，該公司報告去年底北美用戶數量首次出現下滑，用戶花在其應用上的時間減少。

Yet the two companies’ financial might, with a combined market valuation of more than $1tn, still dwarfs their smaller rivals.

然而，這兩家公司的財務實力（合計市值超過1萬億美元）仍然讓較小競爭對手望塵莫及。

Investors have waited 12 years for Twitter to report a profit and yesterday’s announcement sent its shares up as much as 29 per cent before they pared gains in a wider Wall Street sell-off in the afternoon. Snap had risen 48 per cent on Wednesday but was a victim of profit-taking and yesterday’s market rout, ­losing 7 per cent in late trade.

投資者等待了12年才看到Twitter公布盈利，昨日的財報推動其股價最高上漲29%，后來在午后華爾街全線下跌行情中回吐了部分漲幅。Snap股價周三飆升48%，但昨日遭遇獲利回吐和市場暴跌影響，在尾盤時下跌7%。

Twitter’s $91m in net income was an improvement on losses of $167m a year earlier. Even though it beat Wall Street’s sales forecasts for the first time since going public almost a year ago, Snap remains heavily loss making.

Twitter 9100萬美元的凈利潤較一年前1.67億美元的虧損有所改善。盡管Snap自近一年前上市以來首次超出華爾街銷售預期，但該公司仍面臨巨額虧損。

譯者/梁艷裳