Twitter has filed for an initial public offering with US regulators, valuing the fim at around $10bn and following in the footsteps of rival Facebook by allowing people to buy stock in the social network. Twitter revealed its S1 filing via the official feed, tweeting: “We’ve confidentially submitted an S1 to the SEC for a […]
Twitter has filed for an initial public offering with US regulators, valuing the fim at around $10bn and following in the footsteps of rival Facebook by allowing people to buy stock in the social network.
Twitter revealed its S1 filing via the official feed, tweeting: “We’ve confidentially submitted an S1 to the SEC for a planned IPO.
“This tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.”
The move comes after Facebook’s stock hit a new all-time high this week – climbing over the £28 mark compared with the £24 price at which they were offered in May last year.
Twitter, which was launched in 2006, took advantage of a US law brought in by President Obama by submitting the filing under the Jobs Act. The law is designed to make more companies tap America’s public markets.
Under the new law, companies with annual revenues of less than £632million can keep their securities filings secret until three weeks before the launch of an investor roadshow.
Talk of an initial public offering (IPO) has circulated about Twitter for some time, and the Wall Street Journal estimated the company founded in 2006 is worth $10 billion.
Twitter is forecast to earn $582.8 million globally in ad revenue this year and nearly $1 billion next year, according to industry tracker eMarketer. Facebook, which raised $16 billion last year, has a market value of about $109 billion.
Goldman Sachs is lead underwriter, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Twitter notified its employees of the public offering during a global meeting on Thursday (US time), catching most of them by surprise, according to several employees who were in attendance at the meeting.
Twitter filed for an IPO confidentially under a 2012 law intended to help emerging corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue go public.
Seven-year old Twitter, which allows users to send out streams of 140-character messages, has become an indispensable tool to governments, corporations and celebrities seeking to communicate with their audience, and for individuals seeking both news and entertainment.
There are around 200 million Twitter users worldwide and 400 million tweets are posted every day.
