Chinese microblogging platform Weibo has reported a 111% year-on-year increase in profit while adding 70 million monthly users, local media is reporting.
The NASDAQ-listed company released its 2018 Q1 unaudited financial results on May 9, displaying a net profit of $99.1 million. The company’s revenue increased by 76% compared to this time last year, rising from $199.2 million to $349.9 million.
Weibo said that as of March 2018 it had a total of 411 million monthly active users (MAU), more than half of China’s internet population. Of these, 93% use mobile devices to access the network. Average daily users increased to 184 million, up 30 million compared to 2017 Q1.
Advertising and marketing drove the company’s increase in revenue, making $277.6 million from SMEs and large companies.
Weibo expects its Q2 revenue to reach up to $430 million.
The social network was recently embroiled in controversy. In April 2018, it announced plans to purge any homosexually-themed content as part of a “clean-up” of its platform. The move came amid a crackdown on “inappropriate” content by China’s media regulator. The statement sparked outcry online, causing the hashtag “I am gay” to go viral before being banned. The company eventually reversed its decision, saying it would only be targeting violent and vulgar content.