Twitter Inc. posted higher-than-expected user growth in what could be its final quarter as a publicly traded company after agreeing to a $44 billion buyout by the billionaire Elon Musk.
However, overall revenue and advertising sales fell short of analyst estimates, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The results highlight Musk’s challenges in improving the platform’s business. social media and match their influence on news and culture.
Twitter It has long drawn criticism for its slow pace of product launches. Musk has tweeted suggestions ranging from releasing a much-demanded edit button to making the algorithm open source.
When Musk closes the deal, he will oversee a company that has long struggled with internal dysfunction, indecisiveness and lack of accountability, Reuters reported according to eight current and former employees at the firm.
Twitter’s daily active users rose to 229 million in the first quarter, ended March 31, from 199 million a year earlier. The figure beat analysts’ expectations of 226.8 million daily active users.
The company Meta Platformsowner of Facebookalso reported a return to user growth on Wednesday, which helped boost shares of social media.
With the acquisition pending, Twitter said it will not provide any forward-looking guidance and has withdrawn all previous targets and prospects. The company announced last year that it intended to double annual revenue and grow to 315 million users by 2023, when the previous CEO, jack dorseyintended to lead a restart after years of product stagnation.
Total revenue in the first quarter was $1.2 billion, versus analysts’ median estimate of $1.23 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Its net income rose to $513.3 million, or 61 cents a share, from $68 million, or 8 cents a share, a year earlier.