论文部分内容阅读
With no known official schedule and place for its IPO， Twitter’s stock was rated as “buy” by the investment banks. Even the electronic retailer Tweeter， whose stock code is TWTRQ and similar to Twitter’s TWTR， saw its stock price increase 22 times as people took it for Twitter. The IPO of Twitter is undoubtedly raising a storm when the effect of Facebook’s IPO ebbed away.
Seven years， Jack Dorsey， cofounder of Twitter， made the first tweet in Twitter. It was still an innovative attempt after the brainstorming at Odeo， which was just a podcast company facing the fate of bankruptcy. This website which is going to “change the world with 140 characters” was ironically considered to be “the most foolish idea so far since no one would share personal information with others to read online”.
By now， Twitter has grown from a website with 50 users to the one with 200 million active users who published 500 million tweets on a daily basis. It rejected Facebook’s offer of acquisition worth US$500 million. And now its market value is estimated to be over US$10 billion.
Disputes follow as well. This social website is still suffering from loss. The cost is increasing fast but the number of users is increasing at a much slower pace. Meanwhile， it has to deal with the competition from Instagram， Snapchat， Whatsapp and mobile social tools in Asia.
This is almost the same with Weibo， the Chinese counterpart or disciple of Twitter. Apart from dealing with the lofty cost and stress of profits， it also needs to face the problems of less active users and the impact from Weixin. All those factors render Sina Weibo’s market value vulnerable. It has dropped from the peak value of US$8 billion to US$3.3 billion.
New Story of Twitter： Mobile and Big Data
Has Twitter got ready for going public？ A group of data reflects its noso-optimistic situation at present.
Last December， Twitter announced that the website already had 200 million active users per month. Its CEO Dick Costolo forecasted that the number of Twitter’s users is going to have 100% growth in the number of users and increase the number of active users to 400 million by the end of this year. However， the prospectus shows that Twitter’s active users only increased by 7% in the second quarter compared with a quarter before， lower than the 10%-11% growth rate in the previous three quarters. If that pace is continued， Twitter is going to have only 260 million users， many fewer than expected. The capital condition is not very good either. By now， Twitter has raised the funds of US$1.16 billion before the IPO， but it still has the accumulative deficits of US$418.6 million， far from earning profits. According to the prospectus， the revenue of Twitter was US$316.9 million in 2012 with the net loss of US$79.4 million. In the first half of 2013， the revenue increased to US$254 million， 107% higher than that of H1， 2012， but the net loss also increased by 69.3% to US$69.25 million.
This means that Twitter’s revenue accounts for only one tenth of the one of Facebook， whose net profits amounted to US$1 billion in 2011.
Foreign media described Twitter’s current condition as follows： “This is a digital media company having been in trouble and haunted by huge losses. It has no stimulus to drive the revenue， but its cost keeps bloating. Compared with its competitors， Twitter’s revenue increase is too much. All in all， it seems to be unprepared for the Wall Street”.
But this is not the wholeness of Twitter. From the U.S president election to the natural hazards like tsunami and earthquake， then to the Boston exploding incident and the U.S. government shutdown， Twitter has proven multiple times that it owns unlimited power of instant communication and the special bonding effect.
In addition， Twitter is making a new story： the mobile platform. Compared with Facebook’s confusing and unclear mobile plan before its IPO， Twitter has made it clear that the mobile platform is its new weapon and it has found a way to go mobile.
The data from Twitter shows that 75% of users are now using mobile devices to get access to Twitter. 65% of its advertising revenue comes from mobile devices and the proportion is still growing. eMarketer， a third-party institu
tion， says that Twitter is going to earn US$444.1 million from smartphones and tablets.
Twitter spent US$350 million acquiring mobile advertising company MoPub in September 2013. This lent the social media new force in the advertising. Such an action is interpreted as an action to show its potential and determination in the mobile ads field.
Another new story is woven around the big data. In 2012， the company’s data authority helped to earn the revenue of US$47.5 million. Though it was much smaller than the revenue from ads， but the data flow from users’ emo- tions and viewpoints is forming a grand commercial ecological system.
For example， the United Nations is now using an algorithm from Twitter to find the area with social unrest. The Direct TV considers the complaints of users from Twitter as the premonition system for the errors to electric system. HR departments use the Twitter to review the employment. Rob Bailey， CEO of London-based social data analysis company Data Sift， says that “Twitter’s contribution to the economy is much more shown in its IPO documents”. The Value of Sina Weibo
When Twitter announced the prospectus， Cao Weiguo， CEO of Sina， was making a presentation in Stanford University about the revolution of social media.
“With Weibo and smartphones， everyone can be a publisher to report what is happening around them. This is of great significance for China and the Chinese government is accepting this. It is now a fashion to broadcast governmental information through Weibo and the traditional media like newspapers and TV stations all embrace this tool for better and quicker news spread，”he says. “The social media has directly changed the creation， distribution and marketing of all digital contents. But Weibo is still in the infant period of the social media reform.”
“Throwing out the saying about‘infant period’ when Twitter is preparing for IPO means that Sina expects the capital market to leave more time and space for the development of Weibo，”says an investor. In his opinion， the number of users of Tecent Weixin exceeds 400 million in two years and now the emerging social tool is eating away the market share of Sina Weibo. Since Tecent is a strong company， Weixin has unlimited potential. In addition， the Chinese government is sparing no efforts in fighting against rumors now， which has lowered the influence of VIP users of Weibo. He believes that Weibo needs to be more effortful.
In truth， Sina began the preparation for making Weibo go public for a long time. Relevant executives and employees have been stationed. It is expected that the IPO is going to be launched next year.
“The IPO of Twitter is doubtlessly helpful for making a clearer and more accurate evaluation of Weibo’s market value，” says Ji Qing， a market analyzer. She says the Twitter considers Sina Weibo as a competitor in its IPO prospectus， which help Weibo establish a good name in the Wall Street. If Twitter has a good performance in the stock market， the evaluation of Weibo is going to be positively influenced.
Presently， the development of Sina Weibo still features strategic investment. According to its Q2， 2013 financial report， the revenue of ads of the company was US$30 million. Though Alibaba’s investment brought the additional revenue of US$5 million from the ads， Sina Weibo still lost US$11.6.
“The social influence of Weibo is not positively related with its profitability，”says Song Shaokui， senior analyst at China Investment Consultancy. Nowadays， the core problem of Sina Weibo is to find an efficient business pattern for the virtuous circle.
Seven years， Jack Dorsey， cofounder of Twitter， made the first tweet in Twitter. It was still an innovative attempt after the brainstorming at Odeo， which was just a podcast company facing the fate of bankruptcy. This website which is going to “change the world with 140 characters” was ironically considered to be “the most foolish idea so far since no one would share personal information with others to read online”.
By now， Twitter has grown from a website with 50 users to the one with 200 million active users who published 500 million tweets on a daily basis. It rejected Facebook’s offer of acquisition worth US$500 million. And now its market value is estimated to be over US$10 billion.
Disputes follow as well. This social website is still suffering from loss. The cost is increasing fast but the number of users is increasing at a much slower pace. Meanwhile， it has to deal with the competition from Instagram， Snapchat， Whatsapp and mobile social tools in Asia.
This is almost the same with Weibo， the Chinese counterpart or disciple of Twitter. Apart from dealing with the lofty cost and stress of profits， it also needs to face the problems of less active users and the impact from Weixin. All those factors render Sina Weibo’s market value vulnerable. It has dropped from the peak value of US$8 billion to US$3.3 billion.
New Story of Twitter： Mobile and Big Data
Has Twitter got ready for going public？ A group of data reflects its noso-optimistic situation at present.
Last December， Twitter announced that the website already had 200 million active users per month. Its CEO Dick Costolo forecasted that the number of Twitter’s users is going to have 100% growth in the number of users and increase the number of active users to 400 million by the end of this year. However， the prospectus shows that Twitter’s active users only increased by 7% in the second quarter compared with a quarter before， lower than the 10%-11% growth rate in the previous three quarters. If that pace is continued， Twitter is going to have only 260 million users， many fewer than expected. The capital condition is not very good either. By now， Twitter has raised the funds of US$1.16 billion before the IPO， but it still has the accumulative deficits of US$418.6 million， far from earning profits. According to the prospectus， the revenue of Twitter was US$316.9 million in 2012 with the net loss of US$79.4 million. In the first half of 2013， the revenue increased to US$254 million， 107% higher than that of H1， 2012， but the net loss also increased by 69.3% to US$69.25 million.
This means that Twitter’s revenue accounts for only one tenth of the one of Facebook， whose net profits amounted to US$1 billion in 2011.
Foreign media described Twitter’s current condition as follows： “This is a digital media company having been in trouble and haunted by huge losses. It has no stimulus to drive the revenue， but its cost keeps bloating. Compared with its competitors， Twitter’s revenue increase is too much. All in all， it seems to be unprepared for the Wall Street”.
But this is not the wholeness of Twitter. From the U.S president election to the natural hazards like tsunami and earthquake， then to the Boston exploding incident and the U.S. government shutdown， Twitter has proven multiple times that it owns unlimited power of instant communication and the special bonding effect.
In addition， Twitter is making a new story： the mobile platform. Compared with Facebook’s confusing and unclear mobile plan before its IPO， Twitter has made it clear that the mobile platform is its new weapon and it has found a way to go mobile.
The data from Twitter shows that 75% of users are now using mobile devices to get access to Twitter. 65% of its advertising revenue comes from mobile devices and the proportion is still growing. eMarketer， a third-party institu
tion， says that Twitter is going to earn US$444.1 million from smartphones and tablets.
Twitter spent US$350 million acquiring mobile advertising company MoPub in September 2013. This lent the social media new force in the advertising. Such an action is interpreted as an action to show its potential and determination in the mobile ads field.
Another new story is woven around the big data. In 2012， the company’s data authority helped to earn the revenue of US$47.5 million. Though it was much smaller than the revenue from ads， but the data flow from users’ emo- tions and viewpoints is forming a grand commercial ecological system.
For example， the United Nations is now using an algorithm from Twitter to find the area with social unrest. The Direct TV considers the complaints of users from Twitter as the premonition system for the errors to electric system. HR departments use the Twitter to review the employment. Rob Bailey， CEO of London-based social data analysis company Data Sift， says that “Twitter’s contribution to the economy is much more shown in its IPO documents”. The Value of Sina Weibo
When Twitter announced the prospectus， Cao Weiguo， CEO of Sina， was making a presentation in Stanford University about the revolution of social media.
“With Weibo and smartphones， everyone can be a publisher to report what is happening around them. This is of great significance for China and the Chinese government is accepting this. It is now a fashion to broadcast governmental information through Weibo and the traditional media like newspapers and TV stations all embrace this tool for better and quicker news spread，”he says. “The social media has directly changed the creation， distribution and marketing of all digital contents. But Weibo is still in the infant period of the social media reform.”
“Throwing out the saying about‘infant period’ when Twitter is preparing for IPO means that Sina expects the capital market to leave more time and space for the development of Weibo，”says an investor. In his opinion， the number of users of Tecent Weixin exceeds 400 million in two years and now the emerging social tool is eating away the market share of Sina Weibo. Since Tecent is a strong company， Weixin has unlimited potential. In addition， the Chinese government is sparing no efforts in fighting against rumors now， which has lowered the influence of VIP users of Weibo. He believes that Weibo needs to be more effortful.
In truth， Sina began the preparation for making Weibo go public for a long time. Relevant executives and employees have been stationed. It is expected that the IPO is going to be launched next year.
“The IPO of Twitter is doubtlessly helpful for making a clearer and more accurate evaluation of Weibo’s market value，” says Ji Qing， a market analyzer. She says the Twitter considers Sina Weibo as a competitor in its IPO prospectus， which help Weibo establish a good name in the Wall Street. If Twitter has a good performance in the stock market， the evaluation of Weibo is going to be positively influenced.
Presently， the development of Sina Weibo still features strategic investment. According to its Q2， 2013 financial report， the revenue of ads of the company was US$30 million. Though Alibaba’s investment brought the additional revenue of US$5 million from the ads， Sina Weibo still lost US$11.6.
“The social influence of Weibo is not positively related with its profitability，”says Song Shaokui， senior analyst at China Investment Consultancy. Nowadays， the core problem of Sina Weibo is to find an efficient business pattern for the virtuous circle.