Twitter in $10bn plan for stock market float

Social networking site Twitter is to be floated on the stock market and is expected to be valued at up to $10 billion (£6.3bn).

Twitter: Stock market float plan. Picture: AP

The company tweeted its announcement, saying a form had been submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO).

In a message of the required “less than 140 characters”, the tweet read: “We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any 
securities for sale.”

The firm followed up the tweet with a picture of the Twitter offices and a message reading: “Now, back to work.”

The move is the most hotly anticipated in the technology sector since Facebook listed its shares on the US stock market last year for $104 bn (£66.2bn).

Twitter was founded in 2006 and is based in San Francisco. There are some 200 million users worldwide, including 10 million active users in the UK, and 400m tweets are sent a day.

It is one of the largest and most powerful social media platforms in the world. As it has grown, it has been used as a tool by celebrities, journalists and millions around the globe.