(Yicai Global) March 4 -- Shares in Weibo declined slightly in both Hong Kong and New York during trading today and yesterday respectively despite a 37 percent leap in profit last year from the year before as China’s Twitter-like microblogging giant said that growth in the first quarter is likely to be subdued as authorities step up scrutiny of online content which will impact advertising revenue.

Weibo’s Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 9898] were trading down 1.94 percent at HKD212.80 (USD33.70) as of 1.40 p.m. China time today. Its US-listed stock [NASDAQ:WB] closed down 0.51 percent yesterday at USD27.28, giving it a market valuation of USD6.4 billion. Earlier in the day it had surged 9.7 percent to USD30.09.

Weibo raked in net profit of USD428.3 million last year, the Beijing-based company said in its latest financial report released yesterday. Revenue soared 34 percent to USD2.3 billion, 87 percent of which was generated by its main earners of advertising and marketing. Revenue from these two streams jumped 33 percent year on year due to robust growth in advertising by key industries.

However, stricter supervision by regulators on the live e-commerce, entertainment and education sectors since the second half of 2021 has led to fewer adverts which will have an adverse impact on revenue growth, Chief Executive Officer Wang Gaofei said at the earnings conference call. Advertising in other areas such as fast-moving consumer goods, digital products, cars and luxury items will maintain good growth.

Weibo is adjusting its entertainment content away from controversial idol culture and focusing more on the works of entertainers. The platform’s traffic is regaining slowly amid the adjustment, but it is not expecting to recover to 2021’s level until the second half of the year, Wang said.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor