Report: Twitter to List on NYSE, Fearing IPO Mishap on Nasdaq

By Brian Patrick Eha Sep 24, 2013
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Twitter reportedly plans to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange rather than the Nasdaq when it becomes a publicly traded company.

The reason for avoiding Nasdaq, which lists many tech companies, is the fear of a glitch-plagued IPO like the one Facebook suffered last year, according to an exclusive report by TheStreet.com. Facebook’s first trading day was a mess of delays and technical problems that led to some trades not going through. The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Nasdaq $10 million for the botched IPO, citing Nasdaq’s “poorly designed systems and hasty decision-making.”

Twitter’s IPO, which will likely take place in late 2013 or early 2014, is expected to bring in about $1.5 billion for the social network, TheStreet.com reports.

Twitter did not respond to Entrepreneur.com’s request for comment.

On September 12, Twitter announced via its own social network that it had confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a planned IPO. The confidential filing was made possible by a provision of the JOBS Act that went into effect last year.

The stealth filing option is only available for companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. Twitter is expected to earn $583 million in advertising revenue this year, and come close to $1 billion in ad earnings next year.

Like many companies on the verge of an IPO, Twitter is seeking a line of revolving credit. With Goldman Sachs said to be leading the IPO, that leaves rival firms JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — who also reportedly will have roles in the IPO — to lead the credit line of $500 million to $1 billion. This stockpile of cash will keep Twitter flush in the event that its market debut has to be put on hold.

Related: Wall Street to Nasdaq: What’s Your Problem?

Twitter reportedly plans to list itself on the New York Stock Exchange rather than the Nasdaq when it becomes a publicly traded company.

The reason for avoiding Nasdaq, which lists many tech companies, is the fear of a glitch-plagued IPO like the one Facebook suffered last year, according to an exclusive report by TheStreet.com. Facebook’s first trading day was a mess of delays and technical problems that led to some trades not going through. The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Nasdaq $10 million for the botched IPO, citing Nasdaq’s “poorly designed systems and hasty decision-making.”

Twitter’s IPO, which will likely take place in late 2013 or early 2014, is expected to bring in about $1.5 billion for the social network, TheStreet.com reports.

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Brian Patrick Eha is a freelance journalist and former assistant editor at Entrepreneur.com. He is writing a book about the global phenomenon of Bitcoin for Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It will be published in 2015.

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