Wall Street Gears Up for a Twitter I.P.O.

Four big banks are said to have secured roles in Twitter’s highly anticipated initial public offering, according to people briefed on the matter.

Goldman Sachs will take the lead role, giving it the most control over the process, and the largest slice of the millions of dollars in fees. JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are also serving as underwriters for the I.P.O, these people said.

People involved with the process said a fifth bank, which could not be determined, may also play a role.

Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Suisse, three banks that played a role in Facebook’s I.P.O last year, were said not to be involved at the moment.

Still, these people cautioned that Twitter was still putting together the final syndicate, and that more banks could be added.

Goldman Sachs was said to have secured its role as the “lead left” position in the list of underwriters weeks ago, these people said, with other banks notified only in recent days.

Goldman’s leading role marks a setback for Morgan Stanley, which led the Facebook I.P.O. and is regarded as having the strongest equity capital markets practice in the technology sector.

Speculation that Morgan Stanley was in line to lead the Twitter I.P.O. grew earlier this year after the San Francisco-based social media company hired one of the firm’s bankers, Cynthia Gaylor. Ms. Gaylor had advised other technology companies on I.P.O.s in the past, and joined Twitter to lead corporate development. Announcing her move, she posted her first tweet: “look forward to joining and focusing on M&A + strategy. pointed north … let the migration begin!”

The banks jockeying for position are competing as much for prestige and marketing power as they are for fees. Companies that go public will typically split a small percentage of the overall money raised between the banks involved. For example when Facebook went public last year, raising $16 billion, it split 1.1 percent, or about $160 million, between as many as nine banks.

Though it is not yet clear how much Twitter plans to raise, the sum is likely to be much smaller than Facebook’s huge haul.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Twitter all declined to comment.