Twitter begins life as a public company on Thursday, and DealBook will be following the first day of trading as it happens.
The social media service, which began as a side project at a podcasting company in 2006, priced its shares at $26 on Wednesday night, giving it a market value of $18.1 billion. On Thursday, Twitter’s stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TWTR.
If you don’t start your day by retweeting, favoriting or following news on $TWTR, then you may want a quick refresher on the company.
What Are the Key Numbers? About 232 million people used the service each month in the third quarter of this year to share news, jokes and the daily minutia of life - all in messages no more than 140 characters in length. Twitter sold 70 million shares at $26 each, valuing the company at $18.1 billion.
Is It Really Worth It? The company lost more than $300 million in the last three years, but investors see potential in the future as advertisers pay to reach the people who use Twitter.
In a video report, David Gillen of The New York Times examined some the risks listed in the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Who Is Behind Twitter? You mean who is getting rich today? The sweet, innocent ideas and ruthless power plays that created Twitter are all covered in a new book by Nick Bilton, a New York Times columnist. An excerpt published in The Times Magazine included this reference to Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of the company.
Dorsey often tried to act as if he were in control, posturing that his actions were all part of a bigger plan, but employees saw him frequently pacing in frustration around South Park. He also habitually left around 6 p.m. for drawing classes, hot yoga sessions and a course at a local fashion school.
Mr. Bilton has also put together a graphic that offers brief sketches of Twitter’s old and new guard, including Dick Costolo, the chief executive, and co-founders Evan Williams and Mr. Dorsey.
And What Exactly Happens Today? Twitter executives will ring the bell at 9:30 this morning to open the New York Stock Exchange, but it may take an hour before shares actually begin trading. Ken Sweet of The Associated Press explains the role of a “designated market maker†and the period of price discovery.
At What Price Will the Stock Close? We left our crystal ball at home this morning, but Wall Street is bullish. One early analyst put a target price at $50 a share. The pitfalls mentioned above by Mr. Gillen, however, should give potential investors pause. Please leave your best guess in the comments below.
Any more questions? Try this archive of our Twitter coverage.
â€" Eric Owles
