Second quarter results from Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) were nothing to write home about – or tweet about, for that matter.
The shares lost around a tenth of their value in pre-market trading as the social media reported disappointing user numbers.
The average number of monthly active users in the second quarter was unchanged from the preceding quarter at 328mln users, and although this was up 5% year-on-year, it was also some 800,000 lower than the market had been expecting.
Revenue of US$574mln was down 4.7% from a year earlier, while its net loss widened to US$116.5mln from US$107.2mln the previous year.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive officer, was keeping his chin up, however.
"We're proud that the product improvements we're making continue to increase their overall contribution to Twitter's growth. Monthly active usage (MAU) increased 5% year-over-year and daily active usage (DAU) increased 12% year-over-year, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth,” Dorsey said.
"We're strengthening our execution, which gives us confidence that our product improvements will continue to contribute to meaningful increases in daily active usage. We're also encouraged by the progress we're making executing against our top revenue generating priorities as we focus on making Twitter the best place to see and share what's happening, where you can see every side and perspective," he added.
The company said it expected adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) will be between US$130mln and US$150mln in the third quarter.
Stock-based compensation will eat up much of that, and is expected to be between US$100mln and US$110mln.