Twitter loss widens but user numbers propel shares

San Francisco - Twitter on Tuesday reported that its quarterly loss widened to $145m despite revenue more than doubling, but its shares soared on word of healthy user growth.

Revenue at the popular one-to-many messaging service topped $312m in the three months that ended on 30 June, with the number of monthly active users hitting 271 million, up 24% when compared with the same period a year earlier.

The loss adjusted for special items was less than the market had expected, and the rise in use evidently bolstered confidence of investors who pushed the stock up more than 28% to $49.50 in after-market trading that followed release of the earnings figures.