Twitter reports lower-than-expected quarterly revenue

(Reuters) - Micro-blogging website operator Twitter Inc reported quarterly revenue below Wall Street expectations, hurt by weak monthly user growth.

Twitter, which allows users to broadcast 140-character messages, said revenue rose to $436 million in the first quarter from $250.5 million a year earlier.

The company's net loss widened to $162.4 million, or 25 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31 from $132.4 million, or 23 cents per share.

Excluding items, the company earned 7 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected Twitter to earn 4 cents per share on revenue of $456.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)