Twitter Notches Its First Profit, and Shares Leap

Twitter Inc. reported its first profitable quarter as a publicly traded company, cutting into expenses while breaking a streak of declining revenue, though challenges remain as the company plans to ramp up spending in 2018.

Twitter, which lost money every quarter since going public in November 2013, had set a goal of “driving toward” profitability in 2017. In the final three months of the year, it eked out a profit of $91.1 million, compared with a loss of $167.1 million a year ago.