Twitter has about 240 million users and is projected to end the year with 260 million, a far cry from the 400 million that CEO Dick Costolo had projected, according to a report.
Citing unnamed sources, All Things D reports that Twitter has been adding fewer than 4.5 million users per month this year, accumulating to 30% growth by the end of 2013. Costolo told Twitter employees a few months ago that he believed the company would grow 100% in 2013 — from 200 million to 400 million.
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Twitter representatives could not be reached for comment on the report.
If true, it's unclear how the slowed growth will affect Twitter's looming IPO. The company hasn't released any financial figures, but researcher eMarketer has estimated that Twitter will generate about $583 million in global ad revenue in 2013 and close in on the $1 billion mark next year.
Santosh Rao, an analyst with Greencrest Capital, seconds this estimate and puts Twitter's revenues at between $500 million and $600 million for 2013. eMarketer's estimates show a growth of about 100% this year in revenues, which could mean that Twitter's monetization efforts are outpacing its growth. It could also mean that the figures were based on Costolo's optimistic projections. (Reps from eMarketer could not be reached for comment at this writing.)
The All Things D report also suggests that growth has slowed because the company cracked down on spam accounts, which artificially inflated its user base. However, churn is also an issue — "lots of people sample the service, and then stop using it," according to the report. Twitter recently sought to make its experience less daunting to new visitors by introducing a Conversations view that makes individual chats easier to follow.
Image: Getty/Mandel Ngan