Twitter Reveals Plans For $1 Billion Public Offering
The San Francisco-based online social networking company Twitter has revealed plans for a $1 billion public offering, giving potential investors their first glance at its financials and the largest shareholders behind one of the most-anticipated stock debuts of the year.
The eight-year-old online messaging service gave potential investors their first glance at its financials on Thursday when it publicly filed its IPO documents, setting the stage for its debut.
Twitter's target is to raise $1 billion, a figure that will change as the company is trying to sell its IPO to investors. Twitter?s initial public offering documents suggested a valuation of $12.8 billion for the microblogging service.
In the filing, Twitter reported that revenue almost tripled to $316.9 million in 2012. In the first half of 2013, it posted revenue of $253.6 million but had a loss of $69.3 million.
65 percent of Twitter's revenue derives from mobile users, it said. The service had 218.3 million monthly active users, on average, in the three months ended June 30.
In the list of risk factors, Twitter warned it was heavily reliant on advertising revenue. It said more than 87 percent of its revenue came from advertising in the first half of 2013.
Co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams is Twitter's largest shareholder, with 12 percent of the shares, while co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey owns 4.9 percent. Biz Williams, another co-founder, does not appear on the list of top shareholders. Current CEO Costolo owns 1.6 percent.
Benchmark and affiliated entities own 6.7 percent of shares, while Rizvi Traverse Management, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and DST Global are each shareholders of 5 percent or more.
Assuming everything goes smoothly, it could begin trading in November, though it has not revealed which U.S. exchange -- the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq -- it has chosen.
Twitter intends to list common stock under the symbol "TWTR."
Twitter's target is to raise $1 billion, a figure that will change as the company is trying to sell its IPO to investors. Twitter?s initial public offering documents suggested a valuation of $12.8 billion for the microblogging service.
In the filing, Twitter reported that revenue almost tripled to $316.9 million in 2012. In the first half of 2013, it posted revenue of $253.6 million but had a loss of $69.3 million.
65 percent of Twitter's revenue derives from mobile users, it said. The service had 218.3 million monthly active users, on average, in the three months ended June 30.
In the list of risk factors, Twitter warned it was heavily reliant on advertising revenue. It said more than 87 percent of its revenue came from advertising in the first half of 2013.
Co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams is Twitter's largest shareholder, with 12 percent of the shares, while co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey owns 4.9 percent. Biz Williams, another co-founder, does not appear on the list of top shareholders. Current CEO Costolo owns 1.6 percent.
Benchmark and affiliated entities own 6.7 percent of shares, while Rizvi Traverse Management, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and DST Global are each shareholders of 5 percent or more.
Assuming everything goes smoothly, it could begin trading in November, though it has not revealed which U.S. exchange -- the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq -- it has chosen.
Twitter intends to list common stock under the symbol "TWTR."
