As TechCrunch negotiates with Twitter about its decision to publish internal Twitter documents, details have emerged about Twitter’s financial forecasts. According to TechCrunch, Twitter expects revenue of $400,000 in Q3, $4-million in Q4 and a $140-million run-rate by the end of 2010.
Twitter also expects to have 25 million users by end of 2009 – an easily attainable goal given there were 22.9 million unique users in May, according to Compete.com. By 2013, Twitter is looking for one billions users, $1.54 billion in revenue, 5,200 employees and $1.1 billion in profits.
As Michael Arrington asks at the end of his post, the biggest question is where Twitter is going to get all of this revenue? The $4-million could probably be explained if Twitter signes a lucrative advertising deal, for example. But $1.54-billion within four years?
Just for fun, here are some possible ways for Twitter to attract major revenue:
1. Advertising. Sure, Twitter is apparently down on advertising but it’s the lowest-hanging revenue opportunity as Twitter attracts more users.
2. Analytics so businesses can get more insight into how people are using Twitter. Mind you, there are many social media analytics companies such as Sysomos offering feature-rich services, which would compete against a Twitter-only service.
3. Twitter for Business – a white-label version for businesses to allow for internal communications and collaboration.
Of course, all the talk about revenue, profits and hiring thousands of employees could very well be spreadsheet fantasies that all start-ups tend to indulge in.
At the end of the day, the business plan for Twitter may be being acquired. This seems a lot more likely to happen before Twitter can get to $1.5-billion of revenue, let alone $4-million in a quarter.
For more on how Twitter’s internal system was hacked, which allowed TechCrunch to access all this juicy information, check out Twitter CEO Biz Stone’s blog post.
More:VentureBeat also weighs in about Twitter’s revenue hopes (dreams?), offering that Stone has talked about driving revenue by working with major brands such as Starbucks and Whole Foods that want better relationships with customers.
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Twitter: Show Me the Revenue (Stream)!
Twitter also expects to have 25 million users by end of 2009 – an easily attainable goal given there were 22.9 million unique users in May, according to Compete.com. By 2013, Twitter is looking for one billions users, $1.54 billion in revenue, 5,200 employees and $1.1 billion in profits.
As Michael Arrington asks at the end of his post, the biggest question is where Twitter is going to get all of this revenue? The $4-million could probably be explained if Twitter signes a lucrative advertising deal, for example. But $1.54-billion within four years?
Just for fun, here are some possible ways for Twitter to attract major revenue:
1. Advertising. Sure, Twitter is apparently down on advertising but it’s the lowest-hanging revenue opportunity as Twitter attracts more users.
2. Analytics so businesses can get more insight into how people are using Twitter. Mind you, there are many social media analytics companies such as Sysomos offering feature-rich services, which would compete against a Twitter-only service.
3. Twitter for Business – a white-label version for businesses to allow for internal communications and collaboration.
Of course, all the talk about revenue, profits and hiring thousands of employees could very well be spreadsheet fantasies that all start-ups tend to indulge in.
At the end of the day, the business plan for Twitter may be being acquired. This seems a lot more likely to happen before Twitter can get to $1.5-billion of revenue, let alone $4-million in a quarter.
For more on how Twitter’s internal system was hacked, which allowed TechCrunch to access all this juicy information, check out Twitter CEO Biz Stone’s blog post.
More: VentureBeat also weighs in about Twitter’s revenue hopes (dreams?), offering that Stone has talked about driving revenue by working with major brands such as Starbucks and Whole Foods that want better relationships with customers.