I would not normally be trawling through 8-K reports, but when it comes to Twitter I read whatever primary source material I can get my hands on. I purchased stock in the IPO (Disclosure!) and am an avid user of the service.
Twitter acquired mobile app monetization startup MoPub back in October, and while CEO Jim Payne compared the deal to Google’s purchase of DoubleClick, I was very cautiously optimistic. Twitter’s IPO filings indicated MoPub earned $6.5 Million in revenue in the first 6 months of the year, healthy revenue for a 3 year old company but nothing close to the kind of mature and well-oiled machine I hoped Twitter would pick up to drive the mobile part of its advertising business.
However, in a regulatory filing posted December 19th the company disclosed the financial situation of the MoPub at the time the deal was completed. The new filing reveals that revenue doubled to more than $12 Million by the end of September. With a net loss of only $5.5 Million for the same period, this means the company was covering more nearly 70% of its expenses with revenue, and on a revenue growth trajectory to see 10x growth over its (re-stated) $2.7 Million in revenue from 2012.
With Twitter’s stock price continuing to climb, the reportedly $350 Million all stock deal looks to have worked out beautifully. While the New York Times reports the price might reflect exuberance from Silicon Valley (or at least of the 16 year old trader they interviewed for the piece), this looks like a solid corporate development deal that is directly tied to Twitter’s core advertising revenue strategy.
Unlike Facebook, whose advertising product was fairly mature by the time of IPO, Twitter ad product still has a long way to go – but for investors seeking upside, that might actually be a good thing.
MoPub By the Numbers
MoPub was founded in 2010 as one of the first companies to go through the AngelPad startup incubator program, and raised a total of $18.5 Million, including a $12M Series B from Jafco, Accel and Harrison Metal in September 2012. According to LinkedIn, the company’s employee count peaked at 94 people shortly before the deal was announced. View MoPub’s historical growth profile on Mattermark Pro