The number of users posted by Chinese chat service Weibo Corp. (NASDAQ: WB) reached 376 million in September, a net addition of 79 million from the same period a year ago. American-based Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) and Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR), which have failed to add more than a tiny number of users, have been unable to make their services attractive enough for Wall Street to look at them with anything other than pessimism.
According to Weibo’s third-quarter earnings release:
Monthly active users (“MAUs”) had a net addition of approximately 79 million users year over year and reached 376 million in September 2017. Mobile MAUs represented 92% of MAUs.
Average daily active users (“DAUs”) had a net addition of approximately 33 million users year over year and reached 165 million in September 2017.
In turn, this helped increase revenue by 81% to $320 million for the quarter, compared to last year’s period. Net income rose a breathtaking 215% to $101 million. The margin is extraordinary for any social media company.
Contrast with Snap’s third-quarter earnings announcement, and it is easy to see why its shares have been savaged. It measures its user base y daily active users. These were 178 million, up only 17% from the same period a year ago. Revenue grew by 62% to $207 million. However, the company posted a huge $443 million loss, worse than the $124 million loss in the same period a year before.
Weibo has some potential advantages over Snap. Among them is that its primary base is China, which has over three times as many internet users as the United States. Even with this advantage, both its growth and profitability cannot be entirely attributed to its geographic base. Its margins show it is a much more efficient service in terms of what it yields from a dollar of revenue.
While Snap and Twitter need to recast their services to increase engagement and revenue, Weibo continues to roll along successfully with a model that does not need any enhancement.
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