Twitter user growth rises but weak sales highlight Musk challenges

Twitter also reported 12 million new users in the quarter, its highest rise in users since the height of the pandemic, and the mixed news left the shares up 0.6% in late morning trade.

Twitter Inc on Thursday reported revenue and ad sales that fell short of expectations and were depressed by the ongoing war in Ukraine, laying out the challenges billionaire Elon Musk will face if he takes over the social media company.

The company also reported 12 million new users in the quarter, its highest rise in users since the height of the pandemic, and the mixed news left the shares up 0.6% in late morning trade.

The report could be Twitter's last as a public company, although the stock price, which is at an 11% discount to Musk's offer price, indicates substantial doubts that Musk will go through with the deal.

"Elon Musk is buying Twitter at a time when the company is struggling to attract new users following the pandemic-driven surge," said Haris Anwar, senior analyst at Investing.com.

To put Twitter's user growth in perspective, since the height of the pandemic, sequential quarterly increases have ranged between 1 million and 7 million, after growing by 20 million daily active users in the second quarter of 2020.

The company would need to add at least 12 million users every quarter until the end of next year to achieve the ambitious 2023 goals it set for itself, which Twitter has now disavowed because of the deal.

"We think macro issues will take (Twitter) further away from its previously-stated 2023 goals," said Angelo Zino, analyst at CFRA Research. "We believe results along with ongoing ad related industry headwinds solidify the Board's decision to approve the Musk offer, as we see little reason to believe (Twitter) could extract greater shareholder value remaining public."