The CEO of NYSE Euronext Inc. (NYSE: NYX) told CNBC News Thursday morning that the NYSE has done everything it can to provide a smooth initial public offering (IPO) for Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR). Trading in the company’s shares is likely to begin at 10:00 a.m. or 10:15 a.m. ET, according to Duncan Niederauer, the exchange’s CEO.
Whether Twitter chose to list on the NYSE rather than with the Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) because of the disastrous Nasdaq IPO of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is not a question that Twitter’s CEO has been willing to answer directly, saying only that the choice of the NYSE drew on the experiences of many Silicon Valley companies and industry best practices. Whatever.
Twitter is offering 70 million shares at $26 a share, above the expected range of $23 to $25. The underwriters have an option on another 10.5 million shares, and those are very likely to go today as well. A report in USA Today said that the IPO is between 10 and 30 times oversubscribed. That could stress the NYSE’s capabilities.
The company is expected to raise up to $1.8 billion, less than 20% the amount Facebook raised at its IPO. That should help ease some of the stress.
In any event, we only have a few more hours to wait to see how it all turns out. We have noted that some analysts have already initiated coverage on Twitter stock and set price targets as high as the mid-$40 per share range.
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