Goldman Sachs will play the lead role in Twitter’s initial public offering (IPO) the social media firm announced, in a tweet, late yesterday, according to a report by Bloomberg.
We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.
— Twitter (@Twitter) September 12, 2013
Though the financial brokerage hasn’t taken the lead on an IPO since 2009, when its reputation suffered for being tied up in the derivative mortgages blamed for the U.S. recession, Twitter may be opting to give Goldman Sachs a try after other technology IPOs in the past couple of years have drawn a lot of criticism. Lee Spears reports that Morgan Stanley was the next leading contender to lead the sale, but the memory of Facebook’s fast-declining stock price after it debuted on public markets in 2012 was just too fresh.
Twitter’s decision to go public also comes as rival social media giant Facebook is hitting all-time highs with its stock price. JPMorgan Chase & Co. issued a report yesterday recommending a buy on the stock and a target price of $53, 17 per cent higher than its all-time high of $45 that Facebook hit on Wednesday. The numbers around Facebook’s stock haven’t always been so rosy. After debuting at $35 in May 2012 and briefly cresting on its first day of trading at $45.05, the stock took a nose dive. Questions about Facebook’s revenue generating ability brought the stock below the $20 line in August 2012 and caused a chill effect on the IPO market. But a year later, Facebook has regained its losses and has been consistently trading above its debut price for the past month.
Facebook’s stock boost comes after a quarterly earnings report demonstrating the social network has found the secret sauce to make revenue on mobile platforms. Twitter has recently acquired mobile advertising exchange moPob, a $100 million annual revenue generator, and acknowledged the growing use of its network by mobile users.
No date has been set for the IPO yet and no word on the valuation either. For now, Twitter says it’s getting back to business as usual.
Now, back to work. pic.twitter.com/e4lK8e7pY9
— Twitter (@Twitter) September 12, 2013