According to its newly refiled S-1 document, Twitter has lost $133.8 million to date in 2013. That compares negatively with its equivalent loss of $70.7 million in 2012. Both loss figures include the results of the first 9 months of the calendar year.
Twitter’s initial S-1 covered only the first two quarters of 2013. That report indicated that Twitter had lost $69.2 million in the first half of the year. The figures therefore indicate that Twitter lost $64.6 million in the third quarter alone. Or it lost almost as much in the third quarter of 2013 as it did in the first three quarters of 2012.
What did Twitter spend the money on? According to its balance sheet, a large chunk went to research and development costs. Twitter’s accumulated R&D tab in 2013 rose from $111.8 million for quarters one and two, to $199.1 million through the third quarter – Twitter spent $87.3 million in the third quarter on research and development. Just under $30 million of that third quarter R&D tally comes from stock-based compensation, it’s worth noting.
Twitter’s accelerating losses could throw a shade over its public offering, if investors are concerned about its path to profitability. While its nine-month 2013 loss is essentially double its equivalent 2012 loss, it has work ahead of it to prove its long-term viability.
The other side to all this is that Twitter’s revenues are rapidly expanding. The company posted third-quarter revenue of $168.6 million, which compares favorably to its collected $253.6 million in the first half 2013 revenue.
Twitter has opted to file its IPO on the NYSE, moving away from the tech-traditional NASDAQ exchange. It will raise up to $1 billion in its flotation. Oh, and Twitter’s growth is slowing rapidly.
Top Image Credit: Emmanuel Huybrechts