Twitter has set pricing on its initial public stock offering, revealing that it will offer 70 million shares at $17 to $20 each, below prior expectations.
The IPO will raise between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion after factoring in an option by the company's underwriters to issue up to 10 million additional shares. Twitter disclosed its pricing in an amended S-1 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The planned price for Twitter shares, which is subject to change, is well below the $28 to $30 that had been expected. So instead of Twitter being valued at $16 billion or so, it is now being valued at closer to $12 billion. But Twitter is issuing more shares than expected, so the total value of the IPO remains in line with expectations -- though still just one-tenth the size of Facebook's $16 billion stock market debut.
Now that it has set a price, Twitter will soon begin its "road show," touting its shares to major banks and institutional investors. The road show is expected to be wrapped up by the first week of November, clearing the way for trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "TWTR."
