After reporting strong 2014 results and an upbeat outlook, shares of Twitter, Inc. (TWTR, Financial) rose 40% in the first quarter of the year. Well… it turned out the upbeat outlook was premature, as slower user growth and management’s apparent inability to execute on what most investors perceived as fairly low hanging fruit resulted in a loss of momentum, investor confidence and a continued decline in the price of the stock for the rest of the year. Jack Dorsey, the original inventor and founder of Twitter, was brought back in the hopes of rekindling the spirit of innovation and reinvigorating user growth and engagement on the platform. It appears that there is no quick fix and that getting Twitter back on track may take some time. Having said that, we continue to believe that Twitter is a unique and valuable communications platform for all major events unfolding live, in real time, around the world. It is still in the early stages of monetization and evolution as a platform, and we believe they will figure it out.
From the Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund Fourth Quarter 2015 Letter.
