Twitter gets debt ‘junk’ rating from S&PNovember 14, 2014 - 10:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. ratings agency Standard and Poors has given the debt of social media giant Twitter the rating "junk", BBC News reports. S&P said Twitter's $1.8bn September debt issue - IOUs sold to investors in return for interest - were worthy of a "speculative" rating of BB-, three notches below investment grade. News of the rating sent New York listed Twitter shares tumbling nearly 6%. The social network's push for acquisitions despite slow earnings growth was behind the low rating. "The company is investing very aggressively in growth. Depending on the level of business reinvestment, Twitter may not generate positive discretionary cash flow until 2016," S&P said in a note. Just last week, Twitter announced that it was opening an office in Hong Kong despite being banned from operating in mainland China to grow its advertising and sales reach. In October, Twitter reported a disappointing 7% fall in timeline views per user - a closely watched measure of engagement - despite a 23% growth in its user base in the third quarter. The company also said its fourth-quarter revenue might fall short of market expectations of $448.8mln. S&P said it could raise the rating if Twitter broadened its revenue sources, launched new products and maintained its market share, along with improving its profitability, and cash flows. But, it also added that the rating could be downgraded still lower. Twitter shares gave up most of the 7% gain made on Wednesday after the company announced it was considering creating additional mobile applications beyond its core messaging service and video app. It shares have lost 37% so far this year. Related links: Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |