Woes Continue: 'Chinese Twitter' Is Now Bigger Than Twitter

Twitter Inc TWTR stock woes have long been noted since its IPO in 2013, and the company has remained one of the most polarizing investments in the market among analysts to date.

Last week, Twitter’s stock plunged over 10 percent following another weak earnings report and slow growth compared to Facebook IncFB, which continues its remarkable run. Investors were hoping that President Donald Trump’s affinity for the platform would provide a “Trump bump”, but Twitter failed to capitalize.

Related Link: Weibo Shares Up 3.02% At Highs Of $54.69/Share

Twitter has long been unable to capitalize on its user base, and questions abound regarding its value proposition for advertisers. There is a Twitter-like service abroad that is performing well, however.

'Chinese Twitter'

Commonly referred to as the "Chinese Twitter," Weibo Corp (ADR) WB has just eclipsed its competitor’s market capitalization after shares rallied on Monday, driving the company's value to $11.39 billion.

Twitter currently sits at $10.73 billion in comparison. Part owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA, Weibo has been growing subscribers and its ability to “wring more cash out of them” according to the Financial Times.

While each U.S. based social network tends to serve a unique purpose and is generally used for different specific reasons, Weibo was able to successfully merge elements of Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Twitter is currently banned in China.

Despite Weibo’s higher current value, the company still far lags Twitter in annual revenue per monthly user, showing even more room for opportunity; in 2015, AAR for Weibo was $1.90, compared to $6.50 for Twitter and $11.30 for Facebook.

Twitter Vs. Weibo

• Twitter Monthly Average Users: 319 million.
• Weibo Monthly Average Users: 340 million.
• Twitter EPS $0.16 in the most recent quarter.
• Weibo EPS $0.24 in the most recent quarter.
• Weibo Q3 revenue $176.9 million.
• Weibo projects $205 million–210 million revenue in Q4.
• Twitter Q4 revenue of $717 million.
• Twitter projects $75–95 Q1 adj. EBITDA.

Image Credit: By Julien GONG Min (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfishadow/5963790078/) [ CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons