Jack Dorsey: I've Never Been More Sure Of Twitter's Value

Shares of Twitter Inc TWTR were trading lower by around 10 percent ahead of Thursday's market open after the company's fourth-quarter earnings report wasn't well received by investors.

Twitter did report an earnings beat, but revenue of $717 million fell short of the $740 million Wall Street analysts were expecting.

Looking beyond the headline numbers, Twitter's advertising revenue declined on a year-over-year basis for the first time since its 2013 initial public offering. The quarter also saw the slowest quarterly revenue growth over the same time period.

Dorsey Defends His Company

Twitter's fourth quarter wasn't well received by investors but Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey said he has never been "more sure" of Twitter's value proposition to the world.

Dorsey said during Twitter's post earnings conference call on Thursday by noting that 2016 was a year of "reset." The executive added that the "reset" was necessary for the company to better focus on its strengths and the strategy is showing results already as Twitter's daily active usage accelerated for the third quarter in a row.

Dorsey acknowledged that it will take time to show the investment community the results that everyone wants to see and management is moving forward aggressively.

"The whole world is watching Twitter," Medium quoted the executive as saying. "While we may not be currently meeting everyone's growth expectations, there is one thing that continues to grow and outpace our peers: Twitter's influence and impact."

Dorsey followed up by stating he has never been "more sure" of the value proposition Twitter brings to the world. After all, not a single day goes by without hearing about Twitter — a likely reference to President Trump's insistence on using the social media platform to communicate directly with the world.

"People trust us to carry some of the most important conversations, commentary, critique, events, ideas, and questions in the world," Dorsey concluded in his opening remarks. "We've proven our focus works, and we now need to apply the same approach for our revenue products and help our advertisers. Doing so advances us towards our ultimate goal of building a company and service that empowers generation after generation."

At last check, shares of Twitter were down by 11.08 percent at $16.65.

Image Credit: By (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com / bub.blicio.us, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons