Daily Tech Snippet: Thursday, April 27

• Why did ESPN let go of 100 of its writers, reporters and on-air staff today? The programmer, which has around 8,000 employees, says it’s making the moves as it adapts its mix of TV and digital programming to the Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat age. Its content costs are rising as it pays ever-increasing fees for rights to show college and pro sports. But its subscriber base is shrinking as pay TV customers cut the cord or never sign up for it in the first place. The short version of his answer: ESPN thinks it will continue to grow its subscriber revenue by charging its remaining subscribers (via pay TV distributors) more for the service, and that it can keep growing ad rates, too. But ESPN can’t simply grow its way out of this problem. It will have to cut costs, too.

• Huawei, Chinese Technology Giant, Is Focus of Widening U.S. Investigation: As one of the world’s biggest sellers of smartphones and the back-end equipment that makes cellular networks run, Huawei Technologies has become one of the major symbols of China’s global technology ambitions. But as it continues its rise, its business with some countries has fallen under growing scrutiny from investigators in the United States. American officials are widening their investigation into whether Huawei broke American trade controls on Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, according to an administrative subpoena sent to Huawei and reviewed by The New York Times. The previously unreported subpoena was issued in December by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees compliance with a number of American sanctions programs. The Treasury’s inquiry follows a subpoena sent to Huawei this summer from the United States Department of Commerce, which carries out sanctions and also oversees exports of technology that can have military as well as civilian uses.

• Twitter posts strong user growth, shares soar: Shares of Twitter Inc jumped on Wednesday after the microblogging service reported better-than-expected user growth in the first quarter, although its revenue fell for the first time. The surprising acceleration, which Twitter attributed to new features and heightened user interest in political news, followed several quarters of stalled user growth that raised questions about Chief Executive Jack Dorsey's leadership and speculation the platform may be bought by a bigger company. Twitter reported yearly growth of 6 percent in monthly active users, a key performance indicator for social networking services typically calculated by taking the number of users who have logged in and logged out during the 30-day period, to 328 million. On a quarterly basis, Twitter added 9 million monthly users.Despite the user growth, Twitter's revenue for the first quarter fell 7.8 percent to $548.3 million, its first drop since its initial public offering. Twitter's advertising revenue plunged 11 percent to $474 million in the quarter, but came in above the average analyst estimate of $442.7 million, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount. Just in the United States, the decline was steeper at 17 percent. Net loss narrowed to $61.6 million.

• PayPal offers positive outlook, beats expectations: PayPal Holdings raised its earnings outlook on Wednesday after reporting higher-than-expected quarterly profit resulting from an increase in payment processing volumes and user growth. The company raised its full-year profit forecast to $1.28-$1.33 per share from $1.26-$1.31, and said its board authorized a $5 billion share buyback program. Revenue rose 17 percent to $2.98 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.94 billion. Chief Financial Officer John Rainey said the company was planning some staff cuts and other restructuring initiatives which will slash $75 million in annual costs. "Less than 3 percent of our global workforce will be affected and based on current plans, we do not expect a net decrease in headcount for the year," Rainey said. PayPal's shares jumped 6 percent to $47.08 in after-hours trading.