Twitter shares plunge on weak earnings

Shares in Twitter plunged 13.6% after the results were out.

Twitter had 310 million monthly users in the first quarter while revenue was $594.5m (£407.89m), which missed analyst expectations.

The company has for years struggled to generate profits from its large base of users.

Twitter's revenue forecast for the current quarter was given as between $590m and $610m, also short of what investors had been hoping for.

Troubling times

"These are troubling times for Twitter," says the BBC's North America technology correspondent, Dave Lee.

"The last time they'd brought out their quarterly results something quite extraordinary happened, they had actually lost users - which for a major social network is practically unheard of. This time they've gained some - but only 5 million active users extra per month.

"That's simply not enough growth to excite both investors and advertisers - they are instead going to look at other social networks like Snapchat and Facebook that are bringing them more results," he said.

To boost its stagnant user growth, Twitter has over the past months introduced a new user interface and and emphasized its live video offerings.

Yet with Facebook launching a similar product, Facebook Live, Twitter still has to prove that its turnaround plan will work.

(BBC)