Twitter plunges as monthly users unexpectedly fall

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.Associated Press

• Twitter reported an unexpected drop in third-quarter monthly active users and warned of further weakness.
• The company beat on both adjusted earnings and revenue.
• Shares fell as much as 18% ahead of Friday’s opening bell.
• Watch Twitter trade in real time here.

Twitter is plunging Friday morning, down as much as 18%, after reporting an unexpected drop in monthly active users.

The social-media company said it had 335 million monthly active users in the second quarter, and sees that number falling by mid-single-digits in Q3. Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting Twitter to report 337.8 million monthly active users, up from the 336 million in the previous quarter. 

As for the rest of the report, the company earned an adjusted $0.17 a share on revenue of $710.5 million — beating the $0.16 and $697.3 million that analysts were expecting. 

Friday’s big drop comes one day after social-media peer Facebook posted the biggest wipeout in US stock-market history. Shares tumbled 19%, wiping out $120 billion in market cap, after the company missed revenue expectations and warned of slowing growth ahead. 

Social-media peer Snap will report its second-quarter results on August 7.

Twitter shares were up 79% year-to-date through Thursday. 

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