Micro-blogging site Twitter is now public. Almost two months after the company filed confidential IPO documents, Twitter users this morning helped ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where Twitter will be listed as TWTR.
"Ring!" the company tweeted from its @Twitter feed at 9:30 a.m. this morning, when the stock market opened here in Manhattan.
Twitter called on Sir Patrick Stewart (@sirpatstew), 9-year-old Vivienne Harr (@vivienneharr) and Cheryl Fiandaca (@CherylFiandaca), public information bureau chief with the Boston Police Department, to ring that opening bell since "Twitter owes success to its users," the NYSE tweeted.
The NYSE building this morning was adorned with a huge Twitter banner, the company's familiar bird logo looking down over Wall Street.
Last night, Twitter said it was pricing its IPO of 70 million shares of common stock at $26 per share. Underwriters were also granted the option to purchase an additional 10.5 million shares in the next 30 days.
Twitter seems to be faring a bit better than Facebook did on its opening day, hitting a high of $50 but settling around $45 at press time.
Like Facebook's IPO, Twitter going public won't really affect the average user. It will, however, make a number of Twitter founders - from Evan Williams to Jack Dorsey very rich (or richer than they are now).
Dorsey might get another bag of cash in the near future. According to the Wall Street Journal, he has also held discussions with banks about taking Square, his mobile payments startup, public. Several Goldman Sachs execs have joined Square lately, as did a former Facebook advertising exec, the Journal said.
Twitter, meanwhile, turned seven earlier this year with a look back at the very first tweet, from Dorsey; "just setting up my twttr," he tweeted at 3:50 p.m. on March 21, 2006.
For a more in-depth look at the rise of Twitter, New York Times reporter Nick Bilton has a new book, Hatching Twitter: A Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal, that examines the personalities and drama behind the now-public company.
— Twitter (@twitter) November 7, 2013
For more, check out PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses Twitter's IPO. Also see Twitter and 13 Other Trailblazing Tech IPOs.