Twitter booked a net loss in the first quarter because of stock compensation costs, but its results surpassed Wall Street’s expectations thanks to a sharp increase in advertising revenue.
Twitter Inc. said on Tuesday that it had a loss of $132.4 million, or 23 cents per share, in the January-March quarter. That compares with a loss of $27 million, or 21 cents per share, a year ago when Twitter was still privately held. Adjusted earnings were $183,000, or roughly breakeven on a per share basis.
Revenue more than doubled to $250 million from $114 million.
Analysts had expected an adjusted loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $241.5 million.
Twitter says it had 255 million monthly users at the end of March, up 25 percent from a year ago.