:00:00. > :00:14.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:15. > :00:21.It is hard to turn a profit in under 140 characters. The latest earnings
:00:22. > :00:25.results from social media site Twitter.
:00:26. > :00:37.Markets in Hong Kong reopened after the Chinese New Year holidays.
:00:38. > :00:43.Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon.
:00:44. > :00:49.Starting with Twitter. It has just reported its results for the last
:00:50. > :00:55.three months of 2015 and it has been disappointing. It lost money again.
:00:56. > :00:59.The loss has no road to $90 million, but the bigger news is it's user
:01:00. > :01:06.number has not grown for the first time since the company listed in
:01:07. > :01:11.2013. -- has narrowed. Its shares are down 70% since the highs of last
:01:12. > :01:16.April. Investors have been unhappy because of concern about the
:01:17. > :01:23.company's inability to retain senior executives, with four vice
:01:24. > :01:26.presidents leaving in January. Early I asked what our technology
:01:27. > :01:31.correspondent made of the results. This showed something we didn't
:01:32. > :01:34.think was possible. Twitter has eventually lost active users. They
:01:35. > :01:37.share a different way of counting how many users they have. One of
:01:38. > :01:43.their council put the active user base down, which is unthinkable for
:01:44. > :01:47.a social network, especially on that trades because they need user growth
:01:48. > :01:51.to make sure investors are still interested. The fact that Twitter
:01:52. > :01:58.has never made a profit isn't a problem. But it is you that growth
:01:59. > :02:01.-- user growth that is a huge problem and the fact that they are
:02:02. > :02:08.going in reverse is a big problem. They are very disappointing. The
:02:09. > :02:15.co-founder has his work cut out for him. He says becoming CEO of the
:02:16. > :02:20.company late last year has been about trying to improve the website
:02:21. > :02:25.user experience, but many users are disappointed. Here is the problem.
:02:26. > :02:31.The active users of Twitter, about 300 million, they like it how it is.
:02:32. > :02:34.Any time there's any kind of minor change to the service or even a
:02:35. > :02:39.suggestion of a minor change they are up in arms and not very happy
:02:40. > :02:42.about that. The problem is that for Twitter to attract new people it
:02:43. > :02:45.needs to make big changes to the site. Whenever it does it runs the
:02:46. > :02:52.risk of annoying those people who use it, so loyally already. We saw
:02:53. > :03:00.worries over the weekend how people were tweeting hashtag RIP Twitter,
:03:01. > :03:07.after rumours that they might be changing how the timeline appears on
:03:08. > :03:11.people's apps and so on. Any change makes people nervous and therefore
:03:12. > :03:16.Twitter tends to shy away from big decisions. And it isn't only this
:03:17. > :03:20.changing timeline that is basically disappointing investors, it is also
:03:21. > :03:26.an exodus of some top executives last month?
:03:27. > :03:32.Yes. There was a kind of half clear out, half exodus. Some managers were
:03:33. > :03:36.pushed, some seemed to seek changes elsewhere, such as YouTube. At the
:03:37. > :03:40.bottom end of the company, many of the development staff, around 300
:03:41. > :03:43.people, were let go at the end of last year. There is a sense that
:03:44. > :03:50.Twitter has become quite a bloated company. It grew fast and has
:03:51. > :03:54.offices all over the world. One of the things they are trying to get
:03:55. > :03:57.under control is to simplify the company, downsize it slightly and
:03:58. > :04:03.perhaps be the nimble start-up it was in the beginning when things
:04:04. > :04:07.were going so well. Dave Lee in San Francisco.
:04:08. > :04:11.Starting out with markets in Hong Kong which opened this Thursday
:04:12. > :04:15.after closing for the Chinese New Year holiday. The last few days have
:04:16. > :04:18.been brutal for Japanese and Australian shares. Right now the
:04:19. > :04:28.Hang Seng index has fallen by more than 4%, this is led by HSBC. HSBC
:04:29. > :04:38.is down by a hefty five -- by over 5%. Investors have today ingested a
:04:39. > :04:44.whole lot of issues, especially the falling Asian markets and oil
:04:45. > :04:50.prices. That's right. This is the year of the monkey. Astrologically
:04:51. > :04:54.it is meant to be a good year for global growth. As well as for the
:04:55. > :05:01.stock market, especially here in Hong Kong. It looks like certainly
:05:02. > :05:06.at the beginning of the year those expectations will be very difficult
:05:07. > :05:14.to meet. As you know, Hong Kong essentially imports US interest rate
:05:15. > :05:17.policy and we heard from the chair of the Fed reserve yesterday. She
:05:18. > :05:22.says she doesn't intend to back off from a rate hike in cycle, although
:05:23. > :05:28.it isn't a pre- chartered course, so they may hold back. Certainly next
:05:29. > :05:34.month when they decide whether or not to hike rates. Investors are
:05:35. > :05:37.digestive that, but clearly they don't seem to like what they've
:05:38. > :05:46.heard and of course overnight oil prices have fallen again, suggesting
:05:47. > :05:50.weak demand globally. Hong Kong is an export oriented economy to some
:05:51. > :05:55.extent, facing a lot of other headwinds such as uncertainty in the
:05:56. > :06:00.Chinese economy. Chinese markets aren't open today. Didn't open until
:06:01. > :06:06.next week. But this could be a sign of what we might be able to expect
:06:07. > :06:12.when they do open. Hong Kong isn't just an export created economy but
:06:13. > :06:18.also a tourism back. Will the clashes last week between police
:06:19. > :06:26.authorities and stall vendor owners impact retail and tourism? That's
:06:27. > :06:33.the big question. Last year 46 million visitors came to Hong Kong.
:06:34. > :06:38.That's still more than six times the local population. But it is down
:06:39. > :06:44.from what we can see in previous years and big tourist attractions
:06:45. > :06:50.have certainly reported falls in visitor numbers. These tourists at a
:06:51. > :06:54.crucial not just for the tourism industry directly but they also
:06:55. > :06:59.account for a lot of retail. Certainly visitors, especially
:07:00. > :07:04.Chinese visitors, not coming to Hong Kong, we will see the impact of the
:07:05. > :07:07.2014 umbrella movement on that and it will certainly not bode well for
:07:08. > :07:14.the year of the monkey. And queues are much for updating us. -- thank
:07:15. > :07:19.you. The Hang Seng is down by more than 4% at the open.
:07:20. > :07:24.Tesla motors has lost money for the 11th quarter in a row. The firm,
:07:25. > :07:30.owned by a billionaire, says its loss has tripled over 300 million
:07:31. > :07:36.dollars in the last three months of 2015 and this is due to rising
:07:37. > :07:42.costs. Japan's biggest brewer Asahi is in exclusive negotiations to buy
:07:43. > :07:47.Peroni and other brands. The firm wants to offset slower growth in the
:07:48. > :07:54.market and is willing to pay $3 million for the brands. The US
:07:55. > :07:58.Senate has voted to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea following
:07:59. > :08:02.its recent nuclear and missile tests. South Korea and Japan have
:08:03. > :08:04.also announced further measures to punish their neighbour. It is no
:08:05. > :08:09.secret that Asia's population is ageing, what for Thailand declined
:08:10. > :08:12.in the number of working age citizens is expected to be the
:08:13. > :08:16.fastest of any developing country in Southeast Asia. To ease the
:08:17. > :08:21.pressure, the World Bank says Thailand will need to employ more
:08:22. > :08:25.women and migrant workers and the later retirement age. The government
:08:26. > :08:34.is encouraging businesses to hire all the people and keep them on for
:08:35. > :08:40.much longer. At 72, this woman is still cleaning the floors of this
:08:41. > :08:44.rice noodle factory outside Bangkok. TRANSLATION: I am not ready to
:08:45. > :08:49.retire yet. I still have the support two of my grandchildren to study.
:08:50. > :08:52.But working is a pleasure here. It is like working with brothers and
:08:53. > :08:58.sisters. And she isn't the only older worker. TRANSLATION: The
:08:59. > :09:02.factory owner is so kind. He told me not to retire if I would be staying
:09:03. > :09:07.home and doing nothing. It would be too quiet and lonely. Encouraging
:09:08. > :09:11.more older workers to stay on the job, past retirement age, is part of
:09:12. > :09:14.a government project aimed at easing the burden of its rapidly ageing
:09:15. > :09:21.population. For the factory owner it makes sense. TRANSLATION: It takes
:09:22. > :09:26.so much time to train new workers. Some of them don't work hard and
:09:27. > :09:28.lack responsibility. It can't be compared to the older workers. So I
:09:29. > :09:35.would rather have confidence in older workers and some of them work
:09:36. > :09:41.so hard. The saying at this factory is expected to become a common one
:09:42. > :09:46.across Thailand. -- the scene. The World Bank says the country's
:09:47. > :09:50.working population would shrink by 11% by 2040, faster than Thailand's
:09:51. > :09:54.developing neighbours. TRANSLATION: When older people have an income
:09:55. > :09:58.they will spend money, which will generate cash flow. If there are
:09:59. > :10:04.many old people who don't have an income or money to spend, the
:10:05. > :10:08.economy will not go smoothly. Already nearly 40% of Thai people
:10:09. > :10:15.who are above the retirement age of 60 are still working. TRANSLATION: I
:10:16. > :10:20.have children but they are all married and I don't know whether
:10:21. > :10:23.they will take care of me. So I am still working here. Even without the
:10:24. > :10:26.government's encouragement, limited pensions leave many with little
:10:27. > :10:31.choice but to remain in the workforce.
:10:32. > :10:33.Thank you so much for investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. See
:10:34. > :10:42.you again soon. The top stories this hour: There's
:10:43. > :10:48.been more fallout from North Korea's