Nov. 7 marked an important day for socialites and stock traders alike. It was the day where Twitter, the famous social media network, held its IPO (initial public offering), or, in other words, changed its stock from private to public.
However, unlike Facebook’s IPO, which saw that company’s stock selling for far less than predicted, Twitter’s stock price exceeded expectations.
Twitter (named TWTR on the New York Stock Exchange) began trading on Nov. 7, at an initial asking price of $26 a share, which was set on Wednesday, Nov. 6 during afterhours trading on the NYSE.
However, Twitter’s stock price soared during the first day of official trading to a maximum of $50.09, roughly 93 percent more than the initial price, unlike Facebook, whose closing price ended below what was initially asked.
In fact, according to Reuters on Nov. 9, the popularity of Twitter’s stock was so great that it helped the NYSE “gain momentum” against the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) in a battle to obtain more tech and social media companies’ IPOs.
Even though the stock, as over Nov. 20, has dropped more than $9 off its Nov. 7 peak, Twitter’s IPO was a definite success.
Despite the publicity Twitter received, when Legend reporters arrived at its downtown San Francisco headquarters, at 1355 Market St., the site was almost empty. There were very few of members of Twitter’s staff available to be interviewed, and Legend reporters were denied access to the building, including the lobby.
When Legend reporters caught up with a few of Twitter’s staff and employees leaving the building or standing outside to smoke, they were happy to talk until the IPO was brought up.
One 27-year-old woman, Keerthi, who requested that her last name be withheld, said that she’s “happy with how it (the IPO) was going” but that she wasn’t “the right person to ask about this”
One thing is certain: This is only the beginning of a long road, and Twitter still has many challenges ahead.