> Revenue rose about 8 percent to $616 million, above the average analyst estimate of $605.8 million. The company reported a 20 percent rise in revenue in the previous quarter and 58 percent last year.
> Twitter had 3,860 employees globally as of June. The layoff could hurt the company's image in San Francisco, where the competition for engineering talent is fierce.
Total revenue of $616M and 3,860 employees (pre-layoff) means they've got $159K of revenue per employee. If the majority of their work force is engineers that's pretty weak. After adding in health insurance, 401k, real estate (for office locations), and all the rest of the usual expenditures, it's no wonder they can't turn a profit.
> "We're getting more disciplined about how we invest in the business, and we set a company goal of driving toward GAAP profitability in 2017," said Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto.
They're going to need go significantly deeper than 9% to get to profitability.
EDIT: Per the replies the revenue numbers quoted are per-quarter, not annual. Still begs the question of how they hell they're not profitable making $636K per employee.