Twitter reports first-quarter loss, despite record user growth, as expenses jump

Twitter on Thursday posted a loss in the first quarter as the social media company's higher expenses outweighed revenue growth.

The San Francisco company reported a 24 percent growth in average daily users, year-over-year - the highest ever growth rate in the company's history - as it added 14 million daily users since the previous quarter.

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The company said growth was driven by seasonal strength, product improvements and interest in coronavirus.

Twitter started disclosing its daily user base - or the number of users who log in at least once a day and see ads on the platform - from last year. The daily metric has replaced its monthly user count, which Twitter said it will no longer disclose. Other companies, such as Facebook, give both daily and monthly counts.

Twitter posted a loss of $8.4 million, or 1 cent per share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of $190.8 million, or 25 cents per share, a year ago, when it recorded a big tax benefit.

On average, analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast quarterly earnings per share of 10 cents.

The company previously withdrew full-year financial guidance and said that it's not providing second-quarter estimates either.

Tech giant Google is also witnessing downtime across verticals due to the overall slowdown across the global economy. But the digital transformation does have its perks and offers a fair advantage to the company.

Google reported that users are turning to some products for help more than ever, as reflected in the rise in search activity, engagement on YouTube, downloads on Google Play, and usage of G Suite.

Earlier this year, Sundar Pichai had announced a commitment of $800 million to support small businesses and crisis response efforts through a combination of grants, small business loans, and ad credits. 

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)