Twitter adds more users than Wall Street expectations

Twitter Inc, which has agreed to a $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, said on Thursday it added more users than Wall Street had expected for the first quarter even as revenue came in slightly below estimates.

The company also withdrew all previously provided goals and outlook, given the pending acquisition.

The company said daily active users rose to 229 million users in the first quarter ended March 31, from 199 million, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected 226.8 million daily active users.

Twitter, which has struggled to shake off a stagnation in its user base, has been working to improve its targeting and measurement of ads and testing e-commerce ad formats, while spending aggressively on initiatives such as video advertisements.

While Musk has not made clear how he plans to “fix and improve” Twitter, he has spoken about a subscription-based business model and a crackdown on bot accounts.

It reported revenue of $1.2 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.23 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Its net income rose to $513.3 million, or 61 cents per share, from $68 million, 8 cents per share, a year earlier.

The San Francisco-based company’s shares rose about 0.7% in trading before the bell.