12 Sep Flash: Twitter Files Confidentially for IPO

It just came over the wires that social media company Twitter has filed a registration statement with the SEC to go public in an IPO. They told the world about it, of course, in a tweet. What’s interesting is that the company, with over 200 million users, chose to file confidentially for now, not revealing any details about the company or the offering. This is permitted for any company with less than $1 billion in revenues (called “emerging growth companies”) under the Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. So it at least tells us that Twitter has less than $1 billion in revenues, but tells us not much else.

Earlier this year it was reported that Twitter was trying to sell shares in the secondary markets at around a $10 billion valuation. It will be interesting to see how they value the company now going public. It is something to think that a company worth around that level is still considered “emerging.” Another interesting fact is that the company decided not to keep confidential the fact that they filed confidentially. Some say the confidential filing feature was meant to encourage companies who are unsure about public disclosure of their plan to go public to file anyway and start the process.

But here we are, and they certainly have every right to obtain the benefits that the JOBS Act available to them. Good luck Twitter, a successful transaction could help spur more exciting social media and technology IPOs.