UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2014

OR

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM                      TO                    

Commission File Number 001-36164

 

Twitter, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

1355 Market Street, Suite 900

San Francisco, California 94103

(Address of principal executive offices and Zip Code)

(415) 222-9670

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES  x    NO  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). YES  x    NO  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES  ¨    NO   x

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of October 31, 2014 was 634,511,461.

 

 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q include, but are not limited to, statements about:

We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

 

 

 

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NOTE REGARDING KEY METRICS

We review a number of metrics, including monthly active users, or MAUs, timeline views, timeline views per MAU and advertising revenue per timeline view, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions. See the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Metrics” for a discussion of how we calculate MAUs, timeline views, timeline views per MAU and advertising revenue per timeline view.

The numbers of active users and timeline views presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are based on internal company data. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring usage and user engagement across our large user base around the world. For example, there are a number of false or spam accounts in existence on our platform. We have performed an internal review of a sample of accounts and estimate that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of our MAUs. In making this determination, we applied significant judgment, so our estimation of false or spam accounts may not accurately represent the actual number of such accounts, and the actual number of false or spam accounts could be higher than we have estimated. We are continually seeking to improve our ability to estimate the total number of spam accounts and eliminate them from the calculation of our active users. For example, we made an improvement in our spam detection capabilities in the second quarter of 2013 and suspended a large number of accounts. Spam accounts that we have identified are not included in the active user numbers presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We treat multiple accounts held by a single person or organization as multiple users for purposes of calculating our active users because we permit people and organizations to have more than one account. Additionally, some accounts used by organizations are used by many people within the organization. As such, the calculations of our active users may not accurately reflect the actual number of people or organizations using our platform.

Our metrics are also affected by third-party applications that automatically contact our servers for regular updates with no user action involved, and this activity can cause our system to count the users associated with such applications as active users on the day or days such contact occurs.  In the three months ended September 30, 2014, approximately 11.5% of all active users solely used third-party applications to access Twitter.  However, only up to approximately 8.5% of all active users used third-party applications that may have automatically contacted our servers for regular updates without any discernable additional user-initiated action.  The calculations of MAUs presented in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may be affected as a result of automated activity.

In addition, our data regarding user geographic location for purposes of reporting the geographic location of our MAUs is based on the IP address associated with the account when a user initially registered the account on Twitter. The IP address may not always accurately reflect a user’s actual location at the time such user engaged with our platform.

We present and discuss timeline views in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We have estimated a small percentage of timeline views in the three months ended September 30, 2013 to account for certain timeline views that were logged incorrectly during the quarter as a result of a product update. We believe this estimate to be reasonable, but the actual numbers could differ from our estimate. We present and discuss our total audience based on both internal metrics and data from Google Analytics, which measures unique visitors to our properties.

We regularly review and may adjust our processes for calculating our internal metrics to improve their accuracy. Our measures of user growth and user engagement may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly-titled metrics of our competitors due to differences in methodology.

 

 

 

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PART I — FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

Item 1. Financial Statements

TWITTER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except par value)

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

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TWITTER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands, except per share data)

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

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TWITTER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

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TWITTER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

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TWITTER, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

 

Note 1. Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Twitter, Inc. (“Twitter” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware in April 2007, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Twitter is a public platform where any user can create a Tweet and any user can follow other users. Each Tweet is limited to 140 characters of text, but can also contain rich media, including photos, videos and applications.

Convertible Notes Offering

In September 2014, the Company issued $900.0 million principal amount of 0.25% convertible senior notes due 2019 (the “2019 Notes”) and $900.0 million principal amount of 1.00% convertible senior notes due 2021 (the “2021 Notes” and together with the 2019 Notes, the “Notes”) in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The total net proceeds from this offering, after deducting initial purchasers’ discount and debt issuance costs, were approximately $1.77 billion.

 

Concurrently with the issuance of the 2019 Notes and 2021 Notes, the Company entered into convertible note hedge transactions for which it paid $387.5 million. In addition, the Company sold warrants for which it received $275.1 million.

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements and reflect, in management’s opinion, all adjustments of a normal, recurring nature that are necessary for the fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods, but are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full fiscal year or any other period.

The accompanying interim consolidated financial statements and these related notes should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, as well as related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. The Company bases its estimates on past experience and other assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, and the Company evaluates these estimates on an ongoing basis. Actual results could differ materially from the Company’s estimates. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, the Company’s financial condition or operating results will be affected.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In July 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued a new accounting standard update on the financial statement presentation of unrecognized tax benefits. The new guidance provides that a liability related to an unrecognized tax benefit would be presented as a reduction of a deferred tax asset for a net operating loss carryforward, a similar tax loss or a tax credit carryforward, if such settlement is required or expected in the event the uncertain tax position is disallowed. The Company adopted this guidance prospectively for unrecognized tax benefits as of January 1, 2014. The application of this guidance resulted in a $15.8 million decrease in net deferred tax assets and the related liability for unrecognized tax benefits upon adoption.

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In May 2014, the FASB issued a new accounting standard update on revenue recognition from contracts with customers. The new guidance will replace all current U.S. GAAP guidance on this topic and eliminate all industry-specific guidance.  According to the new guidance, revenue is recognized when promised goods or services are transferred to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration for which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This guidance will be effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2017 and can be applied either retrospectively to each period presented or as a cumulative-effect adjustment as of the date of adoption. Early adoption is not permitted. The Company has not yet selected a transition method and is evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting standard update on the financial statements and related disclosures.

In June 2014, the FASB issued a new accounting standard update on stock-based compensation when the terms of an award provide that a performance target could be achieved after the requisite service period. The new guidance requires that a performance target that affects vesting, and that could be achieved after the requisite service period, be treated as a performance condition. As such, the performance target should not be reflected in estimating the grant date fair value of the award. This update further clarifies that compensation cost should be recognized in the period in which it becomes probable that the performance target will be achieved and should represent the compensation cost attributable to the periods for which the requisite service has already been rendered. This guidance will be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2015 and can be applied either prospectively or retrospectively to all awards outstanding as of the beginning of the earliest annual period presented as an adjustment to opening retained earnings. Early adoption is permitted. Adoption of this new accounting standard update is expected to have no impact to the Company’s financial statements.

 

Note 2. Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments consist of the following (in thousands):

 

 

The following tables summarize unrealized gains and losses related to available-for-sale securities classified as short-term investments on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets (in thousands):

 

 

 

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The securities classified as cash and cash equivalents on the consolidated balance sheets are not included in the tables above as the gross unrealized gains and losses were immaterial for each period and the carrying value approximates fair value because of the short maturity period of these instruments.

 

The following tables show all short-term investments in an unrealized loss position for which other-than-temporary impairment has not been recognized and the related gross unrealized losses and fair value, aggregated by investment category and the length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position (in thousands):

 

 

 

 

 

Investments are reviewed periodically to identify possible other-than-temporary impairments. No impairment loss has been recorded on the securities included in the tables above as the Company believes that the decrease in fair value of these securities is temporary and expects to recover up to (or beyond) the initial cost of investment for these securities.

 

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Note 3. Fair Value Measurements

The following tables set forth the fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013 based on the three-tier fair value hierarchy (in thousands):

 

 

 

The fair value of the Company’s Level 1 financial assets is based on quoted market prices of the identical underlying security. The fair value of the Company’s Level 2 financial assets is based on inputs that are directly or indirectly observable in the market, including the readily-available pricing sources for the identical underlying security that may not be actively traded.

 

The estimated fair value of our 2019 Notes and 2021 Notes based on a market approach was approximately $879.9 million and $882.3 million respectively, which represents a Level 2 valuation.  The estimated fair value was determined based on the quoted closing price of the Notes in an over-the-counter market on September 30, 2014.

 

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Note 4. Property and Equipment, Net

The following table presents the detail of property and equipment, net for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

  

 

Note 5. Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

The following table presents the goodwill activities for the periods presented (in thousands):

 

 

For each of the period presented, gross goodwill balance equaled the net balance since no impairment charges have been recorded.

The following table presents the detail of other intangible assets for the periods presented (in thousands):