Microblogging platform Twitter Inc will be giving insiders the first chance to offload their stock in quantity of millions tomorrow, when the IPO agreements end. Bloomberg reported.
Twitter's shares have risen over two-fold since it went public in November. Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that there are around 9.87 million non-executive employees' shares that will be allowed to be sold after the IPO lockup agreements end. Bloomberg data showed that this will increase the number of shares that can traded to 90 million, representing a 12% increase. In May, there will be more stock that will also begin to be available for trading, the report said.
After last week's earnings report which revealed a slowing growth in getting new users on board and reduced usage, Twitter declined 14%. The expirations of lockup agreements is expected to weigh on Twitter's stock. However, ZT Wealth Chief Economist and Strategist Max Wolff said, they will in due course, bring the firm's stock to a more justified price.
Wolff told Bloomberg, "Twitter stock was on an unbelievable tear after the IPO, and then hit a wall of worry around the earnings, and now is going to be tested with this lockup expiration. These are all steps on the road to evaluating Twitter not as a great story, but as a publicly traded company with a stock price you have some kind of rational thesis around, and that's healthy."
Bloomberg reported that there were no insiders that sold when Twitter went public which means that none of them were able to gain so far from the rise in the company's stock. It its IPO, Twitter was priced at $26. At yesterday's close in New York, the company's stock was $56.47, the report said.
The largest shareholders of the company include Co-Founder Evan Williams who has a 10% stake while Rizvi Traverse Management Llc and its affiliates have a nearly 16% holding after the company went public. Benchmark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital and actor Ashton Kutcher are also stakeholders, the report said.
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