Twitter notes user growth, pulls guidance

Social media company withdrawing previously provided goals, outlook

LONDON Twitter’s quarterly profit, revenue and the number of daily users on its platform are rising but its quarterly report, released days after agreeing to be sold to billionaire Elon Musk, offered scant details about what it expects on the financial front for the rest of the year.

The social media company on Thursday reported net income of $513 million (U.S.), or 61 cents a share, but that includes a big onetime gain from the sale of its MoPub business, clouding comparisons with the year-ago period.

Revenue, most of it from ads, rose 16 per cent to $1.2 billion in the three months to March compared with the same period last year, though the company said the figure reflected “headwinds associated with the war in Ukraine,” without elaborating.

Twitter reported an average of 229 million daily active users in the quarter, which was about14 million more than a revised 214.7 million daily users in the previous quarter.

The San Francisco company cancelled a conference call with executives and industry analysts that

ually accompanies its results, so there will be little further insight into the company’s current financial condition.

“Given the pending acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, we will not be providing any forward looking guidance, and are withdrawing all previously provided goals and outlook,” the company said.

Musk, who’s paying $54.20 for each outstanding share of Twitter, did not speak publicly on the quarterly report, perhaps among its last as a publicly traded entity.

Musk’s $44-billion deal to buy Twitter was announced earlier this week and is expected to close sometime this year.

But before the deal is completed, shareholders will have to weigh in, as well as regulators in the U.S. and in countries where Twitter does business.

So far though, few hurdles are expected, despite objections from some of Twitter’s own employees, along with users who worry about Musk’s stance on free speech and what it might mean for harassment and hate speech on the platform.