DHAKA: Twitter Inc. said it filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in what would be the most highly anticipated offering since Facebook Inc.

 “We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO,” the company said via its corporate Twitter feed on its website. “This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will be the lead underwriter for the IPO, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Twitter was valued last month at about $10.5 billion by GSV Capital Corp. (GSVC), one of its investors, up 5 percent from a May estimate. Facebook, which raised $16 billion last year, has a market value of about $109 billion.

Jim Prosser, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based company, declined to comment beyond the post.

Companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue are able to submit IPO filings confidentially with U.S. regulators under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act.

Source: Bloomberg.com

BDST: 0420 HRS, SEP 13, 2013
GR/SRS