Twitter IPO

The announcement was made in a tweet today earlier today. No details were provided about the IPO dates or pricing. Twitter is said to be taking advantage of the SEC rules which allow "emerging growth" companies with revenues of less than a billion dollars to keep financial details confidential until they get closer to the IPO. Under those rules, Twitter can keep its financial details private until 21 days prior to its presentation to investors, known as a "road show".

Twitter, was launched in March 2006 and has over 200 million active users worldwide. Since its launch, Twitter has become one of the ten most visited websites on the web, and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet". Investors value Twitter at more than $10bn (£6.3bn).

Other social media websites which have also gone public include Facebook and LinkedIn. You may all recall the events of Facebook’s IPO including the fact that Facebook’s share price tumbled by more than 50% in the three months following its May 2012 flotation. It is reported, however, that this month was the first time Facebook shares have risen above $45 since the IPO. It all goes to show that IPO’s are not always easy business.

It will be interesting to see how the Twitter IPO pans out and most importantly what Twitter has up its sleeve to keep investors happy post IPO.

If you have comments on this blog please contact John North, Head of Corporate and Commercial on 020 7583 2222 or [email protected] or Sonia Mohammed [email protected].