Twitter is gearing up for its most ambitious quarter of user growth, leaders of the social media company's consumer products division told staff on Tuesday.
Twitter is aiming to grow its monetizable daily active
users, or users who see advertising, by 13 million this quarter, according to
an internal meeting that was heard by Reuters.
It is the highest goal the team has ever set, leaders told
staff.
They added that Twitter is on track to reach the goal and
has currently achieved 8.5 million in user growth, one of the best growth
quarters to date.
Shares of Twitter rose 1 percent in afternoon trading.
The San Francisco-based company is maintaining its ambition
to attract new users even as its deal to be acquired by billionaire Elon Musk
remains uncertain.
Musk in a filing on Monday warned Twitter that he might walk
away from the $44 billion deal if the company does not provide data to allow
him to independently verify the proportion of spam and fake accounts on the
social media platform.
The company has said in public filings that spam and fake
accounts represent fewer than 5 percent of quarterly monetizable daily active
users
A spokesperson for Twitter declined further comment.
The war in Ukraine boosted user activity on Twitter late in
the first quarter, but time spent on the platform has declined 4 percent in the
current quarter, leaders said.
Twitter added 20 million users during the second quarter of
2020, its highest quarterly sequential growth since at least 2019, as users
flocked to the platform for news at the beginning of the pandemic.
Since then, the company has struggled to stay on track to
reach its longer-term targets for both user growth and revenue, prompting a
hiring freeze and cost-saving measures.
Twitter's internal goal of 13 million in user growth exceeds
Wall Street's expectations, as analysts on average were projecting growth of 9
million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. © Reuters