Saturday, November 9, 2013
So Far, So Good for Twitter
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange called out orders for shares ofTwitter for the first time Thursday morning as one of Wall Street’s traditional rituals thrust the young company into the public markets.
On its inaugural day of trading, Twitter managed to avoid the missteps that marredFacebook’s initial public offering last year, though Twitter’s lofty stock market valuation added pressure on the company to turn a profit soon.
After being priced conservatively at $26 a share on Wednesday night, Twitter’s stock eventually began trading at $45.10 about 10:30 a.m. In its first hours on the market, the stock — trading under the ticker TWTR — rose as high as $50.09 a share before settling around $46 by midafternoon. Twitter’s shares closed at $44.90, 73 percent above its I.P.O. price but slightly below the opening figure.
Despite a smooth start to trading, Twitter is sure to face continued scrutiny as it works to justify a valuation of $31.7 billion to investors sensitive to the nuances of quarterly earnings reports.
“This is a giant poker game,” said Lawrence E. Leibowitz, chief operating officer of NYSE Euronext, as traders and bankers set the opening price in the minutes before Twitter’s stock began trading. “It will be a bit volatile, but it’s a very exciting deal.”
Twitter executives entered the New York Stock Exchange building in Lower Manhattan on Thursday morning as a light rain fell, and the usual mix of tourists and financial workers mingled outside, some snapping photos of the giant Twitter banner draped over the neo-Classical-style building’s facade.
Inside, the floor of the exchange was unusually busy. An hour and a half before the opening bell, traders had staked out positions and a gaggle of reporters had assembled under the bell podium. Twitter’s bird logo was emblazoned on screens and posters throughout the exchange, and even plastered on the hardwood floors.
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Author: BY DAVID GELLES
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