Twitter beats revenue forecast, but slow user growth hits stock

Closing the era of one chief executive and entering another under temporary leadership, Twitter exceeded investor expectations on Tuesday, reporting a 61 percent increase in revenue and a smaller loss than a year ago.

However, the company, which has struggled to attract new users, said that the number of people using its social network rose by only 2 million over the past three months, to 304 million. The user numbers are closely watched by Wall Street.

Revenue, most of which comes from advertising, was $502 million, compared with $312 million a year ago.