Twitter sees growth in users, profit

Twitter’s quarterly profit, revenue and the number of daily users on its platform are rising, according to its quarterly report released days after agreeing to be sold to billionaire Elon Musk.

The social media company on Thursday reported net income of $US513 million ($A723 million), or 61 cents a share, but that includes a big one-time gain from the sale of its MoPub business, clouding comparisons with the year-ago period.

Revenue, most of it from ads, rose 16 per cent to $US1.2 billion in the three months to March compared with the same period last year, though the company said the figure reflected “headwinds associated with the war in Ukraine”, without elaborating.

Twitter reported an average of 229 million daily active users in the quarter, which was about 14 million more than a revised 214.7 million daily users in the previous quarter.

The San Francisco company cancelled a conference call with executives and industry analysts that usually accompanies its results.

“Given the pending acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, we will not be providing any forward-looking guidance,” the company said.

Musk, who is paying $US54.20 for each outstanding share of Twitter, did not speak publicly on the quarterly report, perhaps among its last as a publicly traded entity.

Musk’s $US44 billion deal to buy Twitter was announced this week and is expected to close this year.

But before the deal is completed, shareholders will have to weigh in, as well as regulators in the US and in countries where Twitter does business.

So far, though, few hurdles are expected, despite objections from some of Twitter’s own employees, along with users who worry about Musk’s stance on free speech and what it might mean for harassment and hate speech on the platform.