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TWITTER DEBUTED ON Wall Street with a bang today as shares in the fast-growing social network soared amid investor frenzy over the most-anticipated listing since Facebook.
The shares shot up by more than 90 per cent in early trade to as high as $50.00. The stock closed with a spectacular one-day gain of 72.69 percent at $44.90, from the initial public offering (IPO) price of $26 per share set on Wednesday.
While some analysts cautioned about the fast-changing nature of social media, the debut led to a stampede for Twitter, known for its one-to-many messages of up to 140 characters.
Appropriately, #TwitterIPO was among the top trending topics on the social network.
“Kudos to Twitter for orchestrating a highly successful IPO,” said Lou Kerner of the Social Internet Fund.
However, as Facebook showed, an IPO success, or disaster in Facebook’s case, is really just noise in the long term. Twitter’s success as a stock is going to be based on how the company performs.
Kerner said Twitter ”needs to perform extraordinarily well, in terms of user growth, user engagement, and user monetisation to justify its price.”
The key Twitter founders attended the opening on the New York Stock Exchange, along with “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart and a nine-year-old girl who operates a lemonade stand.
“Honored to join @ev @jack @biz @dickc & the @Twitter team at their historic IPO this morning,” Stewart tweeted, referring to founders Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, andTwitter chief executive Dick Costolo.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us” Costolo told CNBC television from the floor of the stock exchange. “All the capital raised by this is going into the company.”
Asked about Twitter’s growth potential, Costolo said, “It’s all about making it very simple and easy for new users to come to the platform… we all have examples of why this service can be useful to everyone on the planet.”
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, left, and Mike Gupta, center, chief financial officer of Twitter, talk with specialist Glenn Carell during Twitter’s IPO. (Pic: AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali was upbeat on the company, saying in a note to clients that “Twitter is based on a one-to-all, all-the-time broadcast distribution model, and as such, fulfills an unmet need.”
“This model is highly complementary to traditional media outlets (especially TV), and fulfills the need for up-to-the-minute, trending information in real time,” the note said.
But Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research issued a “sell” recommendation after the opening, saying Twitter ”is simply too expensive” after the hefty opening gains with “nearly the same valuation as CBS… or even Yahoo.”
Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University, said the “investor mania” around Twitter is not an indication of success.
“The fundamental question is how much people have to say on Twitter,” he told AFP.
“We know there are some people who are social and want to talk all the time, but you can’t make a business model on those people.”
Chiagouris added that “large corporations with hundreds of millions of dollars have not put substantial sums into paid media with Facebook and Twitter.”
“They all are experimenting but nobody is putting 25 percent in social media. It may not sound cool but traditional media is still the media of choice today,” he said.
Mike Gupta, Twitter’s chief financial officer, photographs a board at the post before shares begin trading during the IPO. (Pic: AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Twitter offered 70 million shares trading under the symbol TWTR, generating $1.82 billion, and gave underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 10.5 million shares.
The IPO assigned a market value of around $14.4 billion to the company whose messaging service has become a hugely popular tool for celebrities, journalists, political leaders and others. But by the end of the day, that value had topped $24 billion.
With the over-allotment it should be the second-biggest tech IPO after Facebook’s $16 billion effort last year and ahead of Google’s 2004 offer, which raised $1.92 billion, according to research firm Dealogic.
Depending on the outcome of the common stock offer to underwriters, between 12.8 and 14.5 per cent of the company’s shares will be publicly traded. The rest are held by its founders and a handful of early investors.
Twitter has fast become engrained in popular culture but must still convince investors of its business model, having lost more than $440 million since 2010.
But with 232 million users and growing, Twitter is expected to be able to reach profitability by delivering ads in the form of promoted tweets, and from its data analytics.
The research firm eMarketer estimates Twitter will bring in $582.8 million in global ad revenue this year, and nearly $1 billion in 2014.
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Judge wanted to send out a strong message by handing out 3 years, he then went and suspended it, the mind boggles
The mind would boggle in a normal country. Not here, unfortunately
People get beaten up in Ireland every day. Karma works in mysterious ways. What you put out you will get back. Beware.
Money talks. Justice walks.
And he just let them buy themselves out of doing jail time
A suspended sentence is a strong message for a violent and unprovoked attack? What role are these judges living in?
A most generous judge…..3 vicious thugs…
@Peter fechter: Probably from “good families”, pillars of the community, GAA etc
Suspended sentences, a strong message to continue the thuggery with impunity.
A strong message these days is pay €3000 to the victim after you viciously attacked him and the nice judge will give you s suspended sentence. Ridiculous.
Interesting that you can severely beat a victim, risk killing the victim, but you can buy your way our of a custodial sentence.
The moral is that you can hammer people providing you have the money barely to compensate them for their injuries.
Seriously? The final kick in the teeth was delivered by Judge O’Donnell himself. Farce.
I hope the judge wagged his finger at them as he was suspending the sentence, you know, to make a really strong statement!
Tom O’Donnell needs to be investigated. He must have the worst sentence record ever
“I don’t want to be (seen) as allowing these three young men to buy their way out of these matters”
Wtf? That’s exactly what you’ve done judge, how else are people meant to look at it? What a horrible sentence.
Maybe the ‘judge’ should give attempted murderers a chance to throw doubles to avoid jail.
Utterly farcical.
Legal system is a joke
I was assaulted about 2 years ago, and taken to hospital for the night all in blood.
I got no compensation whatsoever.
The attacker committed suicide roughly 1 year after that.
It would seem you’d have to kill someone before you’re jailed in this country
For five years with the last two suspended.
In a situation like that the favour should be returned to each one of them individually. Make sure they don’t lay a finger on anyone else again. Brave boys.
I wonder if these three would get the same sentence if they attacked a judge?
Wonder if these posh thugs came from different part of Limerick, would the judge be so lenient. Class system always wins.
Based on previous sentences handed down by Irish courts, yes.
There are certain types of employment that would dismiss these gentlemen immediately if they were in any such employment…they would also be refused by many employers on the basis of their convictions.
Peter, are you trying to say that the sentences were justified??
Of course not Dave…too much of a believer in personal responsibility for that….my post was simply to point out the long term implications for these 3 buckos if they were of the type to possess a work ethic each.
Sure the legal system is counting on these guys re-offending…more $$$. A major investigation of why we have a legal system and not a justice system needs to take place.
Weak weak judges and no consequences to such cowardly actions is no deterrent. A quick credit union loan and Bob’s your uncle. Just another nail in the Irish coffin. No justice.
Send out a strong message my ass ……no suspended sentence. ..send them to jail for 5 years full term. That would send a stronger message
Why are cases like this never appealed by the DPP as too lenient
Just once DPP appeal a far too lenient sentence
I think someone should explain to this judge how this is as far from a “strong message” as you can get. No wonder the country is going to shite socially with idiots like this as judges.
Let’s them out to do it all again and then get another suspended sentence for them to do it again and then get……….
Deep remorse my hole. FFS the system is beyond a joke.
Well. Judge. You actually let them buy out of it.
I wonder what a weak message would look like, the Judges words and actions don’t match up.
That poor lad deserves justice, he hasn’t got it. 9 grand would probably buy some though, just a thought.
9 grand is not enough. He should have gotten all their worldly possessions that would teach them.
“I don’t want to be seen to be allowing these 3 men to buy their way out of these matters”… so if you could just cough up 9000 euro there now you can go off home. Good man judge.
3 on 1… real tough guys. should all do time, see how they do inside
At least the public know who the assailants are.But this type of verdict does not deter violent thugs or make the law abiding feel secure
A strong message?!!! What a d!psh!te of a judge.
Obviously, the boyfriend of the woman who the victim was talking to doesn’t know what love is.
Three thousand each!?? Probably not even a month’s wage for each of their parents. Ridiculous.
Talk about insecurity? What w….rs.
These judges are a disgrace in this kip, wanted to send out a strong message, and then suspends their sentence, disgusting
Thick judge
Another idiot Judge!! These guys who beat the poor guy are savages!! “They showed great remorse” said their Counsel!!That’s easily said!! The idiot judge bought it!!!!! No real ramifactions for savage perpetrators!! Our Judicial system STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN!!!
The judge noted “their deep remorse”, yeah right once they were caught! I wonder how many others they beat up before that?
The big problem here is that judges simply don’t have the prison places to stick these ba$tards into and for some mad reason it’s now become the norm that judges think that a cash fine or payout solves everything.
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