Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Twitter Stock Tanks on Stagnant User Growth, Lowered Expectations

Twitter beat Wall Street earnings estimates, but lowered guidance.

Anthony Quintano for Re/code

Twitter’s user growth has clearly started to slow down, and that continues to hurt the business. The company lowered its expectations for the current quarter, sending its stock down as much as 12 percent in after-hours trading.

The Q3 financials were on target, showing a profit of 10 cents a share on $569 million in revenue for the period, up more than 58 percent over the same period last year. Analysts were looking for profit of five cents a share on roughly $559 million in revenue.

But the company lowered revenue projections for Q4, from the $740 million analysts estimated to between $695 million and $710 million.

Twitter Q3 2015 User Stats

User growth is clearly an issue. Twitter now has 320 million monthly active users, up just four million over the last quarter. This number includes both traditional active users as well as what Twitter calls “SMS fast followers,” or people who receive tweets via text message (often in emerging markets like India). RBC Capital’s Mark Mahaney projected the company would add seven million new users over last quarter, jumping to 323 million.

We’ll take a closer look at the filing and update with other interesting tidbits that we find. CEO Jack Dorsey, who is scheduled to conduct his first earnings call as Twitter’s permanent CEO at 2 pm PT, isn’t speaking to members of the media today as he did last quarter. Twitter also canceled an all-hands meeting set for this afternoon to discuss the earnings, according to a source.

Still, we’ll be covering the call closely. Newly appointed COO Adam Bain, who runs all of Twitter’s revenue efforts, will also be on the call, according to a tweet earlier today from Dorsey. This will be Bain’s first earnings call.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Politics
Data centers could actually be good for your hometownData centers could actually be good for your hometown
Politics

The case for the buildings America loves to hate.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
How to fall in love with humanity againHow to fall in love with humanity again
Future Perfect

Tech culture has made contempt for humanity feel enlightened. We can do better.

By Sigal Samuel
America, Actually
Inside the fight over America’s data centersInside the fight over America’s data centers
Podcast
America, Actually

“The ugliest thing I’ve ever seen”: How New Jersey residents feel about a data center in their backyard.

By Astead Herndon
Podcasts
Could you spot an AI-written book?Could you spot an AI-written book?
Podcast
Podcasts

An author set up an experiment to find out.

By Amina Al-Sadi and Noel King
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram