Twitter raised $1.82bn in yesterday’s IPO, selling 70 million shares at $26 each, which quickly rose to $44.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The social media site, which is operating at a loss and has one-fifth the users of Facebook, priced its shares higher than its rival but still benefitted from investors’ appetite for mobile advertising-reliant companies.
The site, which draws 85% of its income from mobile advertising, could see the amount it raises from its flotation increase to $2.1bn if underwriters exercise an option to sell an extra 10.5m shares they have been allotted.
The firm’s overall value rose to $24bn on the back of its stock market debut.
The seven-year-old company revealed in a filing in early October that its revenue has grown from $28m in 2010 to $317m by the end of last year, while it made a $69m loss in the first six months of 2013.
The site also said it has 218m monthly users, up from 138m in March 2012, with 500m tweets sent daily.
