Twitter reports USD 270 million quarterly loss as revenue slips

London, July 22: Twitter reported a quarterly loss on Friday as revenue slipped even as its number of users climbed. The social media company's latest quarterly earnings figures offered a glimpse into how the social media business has performed during a months-long negotiation with billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over whether he will take over the company.

The company lost USD 270 million in the April-June period after revenue slipped 1 per cent to USD 1.18 billion, reflecting advertising industry headwinds, as well as uncertainty" over Musk's acquisition bid. The number of daily active users rose 16.6 per cent to 237.8 million compared with the same period a year before.

Twitter chalked up the gains to “ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events". Overshadowing Twitter's latest sales results is its legal fight with Musk to make good on his April promise to buy the company for USD 44 billion.

Twitter last week sued Musk to complete the deal and both sides are bracing for an October courtroom trial to resolve the dispute. Given the pending acquisition, Twitter said it wouldn't hold its usual quarterly earnings conference call or issue a shareholder letter.