Twitter shares plunge as user growth slows down

Twitter reported its slowest pace of user growth in recent company history, dimming hopes that the social media phenomenon can sustain its torrid pace of expansion and wiping out nearly a fifth of the firm’s value in after-hours trading.

On Wednesday Twitter posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of $243m (€178m) in its first results as a public company. But investors focused on the anemic user growth, as well as a severe decline in timeline views, a measure of user engagement.

Twitter, which held an initial public offering in November at $26 a share, has divided investor opinion in recent months, as shares raced to more than $66 ahead of Wednesday’s results despite an absence of news.