Twitter首次报告盈利

Twitter reported its first profit yesterday, sending its shares to their highest levels in two years and suggesting advertisers are beginning to spread their online spending beyond Facebook and Google.

Twitter昨日首次报告盈利，推动其股价升至两年来最高点，并显示广告商正开始将其在线支出从Facebook和谷歌(Google)扩大到其他公司。

Its $91m in net income in the fourth quarter comes after a similar upbeat pre-Christmas performance by Snapchat’s parent, which posted strong revenue growth on Wednesday following unexpected increases in users and advertising.

该公司在第四季度实现净利润9100万美元，此前Snapchat母公司也公布了乐观的圣诞前业绩，周三报告收入强劲增长，用户量和广告收入意外增加。

For years, Wall Street has been sceptical that smaller internet companies such as Twitter and Snap could ever challenge the dominance of Google and Facebook, which together account for more than three quarters of global spending on digital advertising.

多年来华尔街一直怀疑，Twitter和Snap等较小互联网公司能否挑战谷歌和Facebook的霸主地位，这两个互联网巨擘加起来占全球数字广告支出的四分之三以上。

This week’s turnrounds at Twitter and Snap follow signs of strain in their larger rivals’ dominance. Alphabet’s shares weakened last week after it spooked Wall Street with a big jump in the cost of distributing Google’s advertising and services on mobile platforms. Facebook also came under pressure as it reported its first drop in North American usage and a decline in time spent on its apps at the end of last year.

在本周Twitter和Snap报告业绩出现起色之前，有迹象表明，它们的较大竞争对手的霸主地位面临压力。Alphabet股价上周下跌，原因是移动平台的谷歌广告和服务分销成本大幅上升，惊吓了华尔街。Facebook也面临压力，该公司报告去年底北美用户数量首次出现下滑，用户花在其应用上的时间减少。

Yet the two companies’ financial might, with a combined market valuation of more than $1tn, still dwarfs their smaller rivals.

然而，这两家公司的财务实力（合计市值超过1万亿美元）仍然让较小竞争对手望尘莫及。

Investors have waited 12 years for Twitter to report a profit and yesterday’s announcement sent its shares up as much as 29 per cent before they pared gains in a wider Wall Street sell-off in the afternoon. Snap had risen 48 per cent on Wednesday but was a victim of profit-taking and yesterday’s market rout, ?losing 7 per cent in late trade.

投资者等待了12年才看到Twitter公布盈利，昨日的财报推动其股价最高上涨29%，后来在午后华尔街全线下跌行情中回吐了部分涨幅。Snap股价周三飙升48%，但昨日遭遇获利回吐和市场暴跌影响，在尾盘时下跌7%。

Twitter’s $91m in net income was an improvement on losses of $167m a year earlier. Even though it beat Wall Street’s sales forecasts for the first time since going public almost a year ago, Snap remains heavily loss making.

Twitter 9100万美元的净利润较一年前1.67亿美元的亏损有所改善。尽管Snap自近一年前上市以来首次超出华尔街销售预期，但该公司仍面临巨额亏损。