30/04/2014 World Business Report

secretly recorded asking a girlfriend not to bring black people

to matches. Twitter shares plunge as they

struggle to lure new users and excite current ones with new

products. And, money should be spent on housing, not on the World Cup. So

say the squatters of Sao Paulo. This is the latest in our series on

Brazil's economy. Welcome to World Business Report. In

a moment we will be talking about the Japanese PM's tour of Europe,

but first, shares in Twitter sank after the country said its revenue

more than doubled `` Co. It is famous for making people think of

140 characters or less. Twitter has yet to make a profit. It says it

made a net loss of $132 million in the first few months of 2014.

However, it posted quarterly revenue of $250 million. $226 million of

which was made through advertising. The number of active users grew to

255 million. That is up 5.8% of the previous quarter, but lower than

expected. The data continues to suggest that it may only have a

future as a niche social network, so can it break out into a more

mass`market use? When Twitter went public last

November, the Bluebird soared. On its first trading day, shares rose

almost 73%. Not so after it reported its first quarter earnings, when the

stock fell nearly 10%. The microblogging site, which is yet to

make a profit, reported a net loss of $132 million. On the bright side,

revenue more than doubled, as it made more money from advertising. To

highlight its reach, the chief executive pointed to big events like

the Foster's. Two days after the Oscars, there were almost 2.3

billion views of Tweets, just about the show. That kind of reach and

impact is why we now have TV partnerships in 11 countries, and it

has enabled us to build a partnership with billboards to

highlight the music of the moment. Here is why investors do you use

Twitter? No, I don't actually. I don't like to post my thoughts, and

they don't look at that kind of stuff. Do either of you use Twitter

? No, sorry. Twitter may not yet be mainstream, but it is still signing

up new users. The problem is that the pace at which they are being

added is slowing down, not what investors want to see from a young

tech company. 250 million monthly active users is a substantial

number. It makes it one of the largest social media platforms. But

there are a number of other comparable applications that seem to

be used by far more people far more regularly. Like Facebook. When it

was this size, new users were still rushing to sign up. Investors bought

into Twitter on the expectation of rapid growth. Even though the

company said it would make more money than previously forecast, it

wasn't enough to impress Wall Street.

Brazil's wealth has grown in the past decade, but deep inequalities

remain. Nowhere more so than in the country's biggest city of Sao Paulo.

Why the city has grown and property prices have risen, the number of

people in need of housing is rising, which gives momentum to squatters,

who say that money should be spent on housing, not on the World Cup.

This is one of Sao Paulo's newest neighbourhoods. It has no proper

plumbing, and no proper sewage system either. But, in less than six

months, 2000 people have moved in. Rebecca is one of them. At 35 she

recently separated, and couldn't afford the rent, so she now shares

this tent with a two children. This base is just big enough or two beds.

There is no electricity, and when it rains the water comes through the

roof on the floor turns to mud. Rebecca is a member of one of

several housing movements in the city. They occupy land, pressure the

government to provide decent housing. Officials say around

230,000 people in the city need housing. Others say that figure is

twice or three times that. It is not just empty parcels of land that have

been taken over. Here, in the centre of Sao Paulo, buildings that have

been left empty for years have increasingly been taken over by

housing movements. 170 families have lived in this building since they

first took it over nearly 18 months ago. It is in a part of town that

the wealthy long since abandoned, but even here, rents often exceed

the minimum wage of just over $300 a month. Here, they cook together,

clean together, and share the responsibilities. And it is all

overseen by this woman. TRANSLATION: The government is investing billions

for the World Cup on stadiums that don't even have enough people to

fill them, but they don't have money to invest in education and housing

and health. When we sit down at the table with them, they say they don't

have the funds. The government insists efforts are being made.

There are federal and statewide building programmes, and the

municipality in Sao Paulo also aims to build 15,000 new homes by 2016.

TRANSLATION: In eight years, the previous administration managed to

build no more than 24,000 houses, so we are more than doubling that

investment in building work for social housing in Sao Paulo. So, the

building project increase, but amid housing projects these movements are

gaining momentum. People here keep dreaming of a house.

Tomorrow, Katie will be looking at the problems facing Brazil as it

tries to build the infrastructure to match its growing economy. The

Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe, begins a 6`nation tour of Europe today. You

will be visiting Germany, Britain, Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium,

with the aim of expanding trade ties. It comes hot on the heels of

President Obama's meeting with Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. The US was

pushing for a major trade deal, called the Trans`Pacific

Partnership, but there was little progress. What is Shinzo Abe hoping

to achieve during his visit to Europe? Exactly what he didn't

achieve, I suppose, with President Obama on that recent visit. There

are high hopes this time around for some progress on Japan's trade pact

with the EU. They actually launched those talks about a year ago, trying

to boost business between the continent and Japan, which is the

world's third`largest economy. That is a potential tie`up that could

account for 40% of the global trade. This is a deal that some are saying

could even be struck before the DPP, and one analyst I spoke to said that

there are less trade barriers between Japan and the EU `` TPP.

Shinzo Abe's visit is seen to be an important diplomatic boost in trying

to win this agreement on the trade front. Earlier this month, we saw

Japan lifting a self`imposed ban on weapons exports, which could mean

more sales from European defence firms. France is one country that

has already said they will jointly work with Japan on things like

advanced helicopters, as well as submarines, and they are also going

to work with Japan on robotics and cyber defence. A lot to be achieved

on this visit. Let's have a look at how the markets

are getting on. For the most part, Asian markets are a mixed bag.

Previously, we had seen them higher on Wednesday, as investors looked

ahead to US economic data from central bank meetings in Washington

and Tokyo. You can reach me on Twitter.

Goodbye. We will get to the papers in a

moment, but first, proposals to introduce a new tier of local

officials to oversee school performance in England have been

announced by