Twitter CFO Says Buying Crypto Assets ‘Doesn’t Make Sense Right Now’: Report.
Investing some of Twitter Inc.'s corporate cash in crypto assets like bitcoin "doesn't make sense right now," according to Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal in an interview Monday.
"We [would] have to change our investment policy and choose to own assets that are more volatile," Mr. Segal said, adding that the company prefers to hold less volatile assets on its balance sheet, such as securities.
At the end of September, Twitter had $3.47 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up from $1.99 billion the previous year, and $3.94 billion in short-term investments.
Mr. Segal echoed a widespread concern among finance executives, many of whom cite the volatility of digital currencies and assets as one of the reasons they don't use them for corporate investments.
CFOs are also hampered by the lack of specific accounting rules for these assets. Large U.S. corporations have urged the Financial Accounting Standards Board to write rules on how to treat crypto assets in recent months.
Tesla Inc. and Square Inc., the payments company led by Jack Dorsey, who is also the CEO of Twitter, are exceptions. Both companies have admitted to holding crypto assets.
In a recent interview, Square CFO Amrita Ahuja said, "We've purchased bitcoin for our own balance sheet, which we believe not only shows that we have skin in the game but also could provide significant financial benefits in the long term."
Mr. Segal, who has been in charge of Twitter's finance department since 2017, said earlier this year that the business has looked into using bitcoin. On Monday, Mr. Segal stated, "If we had cryptocurrencies on our balance sheet, we would have to make a different set of decisions."
Mr. Segal believes Twitter's recently launched subscription services have growth potential. Subscriptions "will be a predictable and new open space for us to generate additional revenue," Mr. Segal said, citing services such as Twitter Blue, which provides users with additional features, and Super Follows, which allows users to charge followers and provide access to additional content.
Mr. Segal described Twitter Blue, which currently costs $2.99 per month, as a "great starting point for us to experiment with new features." The company currently includes subscription revenue in its data licencing and other revenue, which totaled $143 million in the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, up 12 percent from the prior-year period.
Twitter will offer subscriptions at various price points in the future, according to Mr. Segal. However, advertising will account for the vast majority of the company's overall revenue, which is expected to reach $7.5 billion by 2023, according to Mr. Segal.
Twitter, which announced last month that it would sell its MoPub mobile-ad firm to AppLovin Corp. for $1.05 billion, will remain acquisitive, he said, and will use some of the proceeds to pay down debt and repurchase shares. Threader, a thread-compiling and sharing app, announced on Monday that it had been acquired by Twitter for an undisclosed amount.
