Twitter

I didn't use Twitter. Twitter might be useful for corporate user in specific sectors, rather than for general consumers, IMO.

Twitter quitters dog IPO

SAN FRANCISCO - Retired schoolteacher Donald Hovasse signed up for Twitter about a year ago at the urging of his daughter. He lost interest after trying the service a few times and finding lots of celebrities but few of his friends using the online social network.

“I didn’t really get the point of it at all,” said the Las Vegas resident. “Most of them were people I wasn’t interested in hearing what they had to say anyway.” He said, however, that he does check Facebook every day to see what his friends are up to.

Mr Hovasse’s experience highlights a risk for investors as Twitter marches towards this year’s most anticipated initial public offering in the United States, expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange in mid-November.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 36 per cent of 1,067 people who have joined Twitter say they do not use it, and 7 per cent say they have shut their account. The online survey, conducted from Oct 11 to 18, has a credibility interval, a measure of its accuracy, of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

In comparison, only 7 per cent of 2,449 Facebook members report not using the online social network, and 5 per cent say they have shut down their account. The results have a credibility interval of 2.3 per cent.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/twitter-...rs-dog-ipo

More news on Twitter...

Twitter to shut down #Music app after just 6 months

LONDON — Twitter announced yesterday (Oct 21) that it will close its music app, which was introduced with great fanfare six months ago but has failed to gain traction in the marketplace. The company is expected to rethink its music strategy, according to a person with knowledge of its plans.

The app, Twitter #Music, has been a rare flop for Twitter, whose video service Vine, for example, has been a success over roughly the same period. Twitter #Music, which was introduced in April accompanied by hype from celebrities like Ryan Seacrest, was intended to acquaint users with new acts and see what their contacts were listening to.

But critics complained that by remaining separate from Twitter’s main news feed, the app never attracted much attention.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/twitter-...t-6-months

A conservative valuation on a tech stock. Valuation of US10 billion, is a fair price, base on consensus of market, IMO.

Twitter IPO pegs valuation at modest S$13b

SAN FRANCISCO — Seeking to avoid a repeat of Facebook Inc’s much-maligned public debut, Twitter revealed more modest ambitions yesterday (Oct 24), saying its initial public offering would raise up to US$1.6 billion (S$1.98 billion) and value the company at up to US$10.9 billion.

The valuation was more conservative than the US$15 billion that some analysts had expected for the social media phenomenon.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/twit...odest-s13b

The thread will be moved to appropriate location under US Listed Companies, after the company starts its listing.

Twitter raises share price target

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter raised the top end of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) price range by 25 per cent and will close its books a day early, signalling strong demand for the most closely watched Silicon Valley debut since Facebook last year.

Amid a red-hot market for initial public offerings and soaring equity markets, Twitter raised its price range to US$23 to US$25 (S$28.5 to S$31) per share yesterday (Nov 4), but kept the offering size at 70 million shares. That means it will raise up to US$2 billion if an over-allotment option of 10.5 million shares is exercised.

Sources close to the situation said demand among institutional investors was so strong that the final pricing is likely to go even higher than the new range announced yesterday. The sources declined to be identified because the sales process is not public.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/twit...ice-target

I've a feeling that Twitter IPO is going to mark the US market high for at least next 12 months

Twitter IPO is hot...

Twitter prices IPO at US$26

NEW YORK — Twitter yesterday (Nov 6) priced its initial public offering above its expected range at US$26 (S$32.30) to raise more than US$1.8 billion, according to a source.

The move is a sign of strong investor demand for the most highly anticipated United States public float since Facebook. Twitter makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange today.

The microblogging network priced 70 million shares at US$26, above the expected range of US$23 to US$25, which had already been raised once before.

Final pricing was being hashed out between Twitter management and its underwriters earlier yesterday. Sources, who declined to be named because the process is not public, had said that the price could hit as high as US$28.

The underwriters are trying to walk a delicate line between getting the best price for Twitter management while avoiding the pitfalls of the May 2012 IPO for Facebook, whose shares fell on their first trading day on concern the underwriters had overvalued the company.
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http://www.todayonline.com/twitter-inc-p...s26-source

I moved the thread under U.S. Listed Companies upon listed. Price surged to more than US$ 44, more than 70% gain. What a hot stock...

It is much easier to get rich by IPO a start-up...

Who will get rich from Twitter’s IPO?

SAN FRANCISCO — Just about everyone in Silicon Valley has dreamed of striking it rich with a well-timed investment. Here is a list of the number and value, based on the closing price of US$44.90 (S$55.88), of the shares owned by some of the people and investment firms that have benefited the most from Twitter’s initial public offering yesterday (Nov 7).

At the market close, Twitter’s valuation was US$24.47 billion.

Executive officers and directors:
Mr Evan Williams — 56,909,847 shares, or 12 per cent, worth US$2.56 billion. Mr Williams was Twitter’s chief executive until 2010, when current CEO Dick Costolo took the helm. He is working on a publishing platform, Medium, which is dedicated to long-form content.
Benchmark — 31,568,740 shares, or 6.7 per cent, worth US$1.42 billion. Venture firm Benchmark started investing in Twitter in 2009 when it was valued in the US$200 million-US$250 million range. This stake includes shares owned by partner Mr Peter Fenton, who led the firm’s investment in consumer-Internet play Yelp, holds a board seat at Twitter.
Mr Jack Dorsey — 23,453,017 shares, or 4.9 per cent, worth US$1.05 billion. Mr Dorsey co-founded Twitter and still serves as its chairman. In 2009, he founded payments service Square and serves as its CEO.
Mr Dick Costolo — 7,675,239 shares, or 1.6 per cent, worth US$344.6 million. A one-time improvisational comedian, Mr Costolo took the helm of Twitter in 2010. He joined Twitter as chief operating officer the year before, after he and co-founders sold their Web feed management provider FeedBurner to Google in 2007.
Mr Adam Bain — 1,785,818 shares, or less than 1 per cent, worth US$80.2 million. Mr Bain is the president of global revenue at Twitter. He was formerly the president of audience network at News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media.
Mr David Rosenblatt — 291,666 shares, or less than 1 per cent, worth US$13.1 million. Mr Rosenblatt is CEO of luxury online retailer 1stdibs.com and is a member of Twitter’s board of directors.

The following groups own at least 5 per cent:
Rizvi Traverse Management — 85,171,093 shares, or 17.9 per cent, worth US$3.82 billion. A closely held private-equity fund based in Michigan, Rizvi has made a name for itself by buying stakes in entertainment companies such as Playboy and movie producer Summit Entertainment. Last year, it led a US$200 million funding round in Mr Jack Dorsey’s payments company, Square. This stake includes shares over which JP Morgan has dispositive power.
Spark Capital — 32,414,224 shares, or 6.8 per cent, worth US$1.46 billion. Venture firm Spark started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, Spark partner Bijan Sabet served on Twitter’s board.
Union Square Ventures — 27,838,992 shares, or 5.9 per cent, worth US$1.25 billion. Venture firm Union Square started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, USV partner Fred Wilson served on Twitter’s board.
DST Global — 23,744,745 shares, or 5 per cent, worth US$1.07 billion. The investment firm founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner led a US$400 million investment in Twitter in 2011. At the time, Twitter was valued at around US$8 billion. REUTERS
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/who-will...itters-ipo

Don't know if these people when they started out with intention to get rich or just happened to hit the jack pot?

Crazy overpriced and still almost doubled at the high last night. ended up closing at shy of $45.

The market is indeed irrational...

As usual, cash-out from those "tikam" on the IPO...

Twitter stock slides on second trading day

NEW YORK — Twitter’s stock slid more than 7 per cent on its second trading day yesterday (Nov 8), after the popular short messaging service saw a huge first-day pop in what turned out to be a smooth public debut.

Such volatile trading is common for freshly public stocks as investors make decisions with limited insight into how well companies will do in the long run. Although there are a few outliers, most analysts believe the appropriate price range for Twitter’s stock is in the S$37s and low S$50s. The mean target price analysts have set for the stock, according to FactSet, is US$40, with targets ranging from US$29 to US$54.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter arrived at his US$37 price target by assuming Twitter will double its 230 million monthly users to 460 million over the next five years while increasing the number of times users look at Twitter every day. Mr Pachter estimates Twitter will deliver US$3.5 billion in EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — by 2018.

“Twitter is likely in the early innings of its growth,” Mr Pachter wrote in a note to investors. “We believe that the majority of the world’s 2.4 billion Internet users have great potential to find something or someone on Twitter that they are interested in.”

San Francisco-based Twitter’s stock fell US$3.25, or 7 per cent, to US$41.65 in trading on Friday despite an uptick in the broader market.

The shares are still up 60 per cent from the $26 IPO price Twitter and the IPO’s underwriting bankers set Wednesday night. Twitter made US$1.8 billion in the offering. On Thursday, the company’s stock jumped 73 per cent in its first day of trading, creating hordes of new millionaires —and even a few billionaires. AP
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/twitter-...rading-day