Twitter Chief Costolo Steps Down

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Dick Costolo is stepping down as chief executive of Twitter, the company has announced.

The social messaging service’s co-founder Jack Dorsey will take over as interim chief on 1 July and stay until a replacement can be found.

Mr Costolo had been under pressure from investors unhappy with the firm’s user growth.

In a statement, he said he was “tremendously proud of the Twitter team”.

Twitter said that its board had formed a committee to undertake the task of finding a successor.

Following the announcement, shares in the company jumped by more than 7% in trading after US markets had closed.

Slowing growth Twitter debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013 but has not been adding users as fast as investors had hoped.

In April, the firm missed Wall Street’s forecasts for revenue growth and posted a net loss of $162m (£104m).

Its share price has declined nearly 30% since then, and is currently trading below the price it debuted at in 2013.

Analysts remain pessimistic about the firm’s ability to grow.

The research consultancy eMarketer estimates that Twitter’s monthly user base will grow just 14.1% this year, slowing from more than 30% two years ago.

By 2019, eMarketer says Twitter’s user growth rate will be just 6% worldwide.

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