Monday 21 September 2026
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Twitter’s revenue declines for first time

Twitter has reported the first revenue decline in its history as a public company, but shares soared on Wednesday as improved user growth suggested the social network's long and painful turnaround is bearing fruit.

Business Matters
By Business Matters
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The company said monthly users – a key statistic for social media companies – grew by 6pc in the first quarter of the year, the fastest for two years. The number of daily users, meanwhile, grew by 14pc, showing that Twitter’s existing users are logging in more often, reports The Telegraph.

Twitter’s shares rose by 10pc in early trading despite sales falling by 8pc to $548m (£427m), the first time it has registered a decline since going public in 2013. The fall was not as severe as analysts had expected, however. Losses decreased from $79.7m to $61.6m.

Despite celebrities and public figures including Donald Trump being hooked on Twitter, the microblogging service has struggled to mimic the growth of other social media companies such as Facebook.

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User numbers have stalled in the last two years, with critics saying new users find the service baffling and condemning it for failing to crack down on harassment.

Twitter has 328m monthly users, compared to almost 2bn for Facebook. Instagram, the photo sharing app that Twitter once tried to buy before Facebook paid $1bn for it five years ago, announced on Wednesday that it is now more than twice the size of Twitter with more than 700m users.

Nonetheless, the boost to growth is a potential turning point for Twitter. It credited recent changes to its app with the increase, rather than any extra attention it has received due to Mr Trump’s frequent use of the service.

The company said revenue fell due to it overhauling its advertising business in recent months, and said increased use of Twitter will filter through to its financials over time.

“While we continue to face revenue headwinds, we believe that executing on our plan and growing our audience should result in positive revenue growth over the long term,” its chief executive Jack Dorsey said.

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