Although it has been long rumored, social media sensation Twitter is now expected to formally announce a public initial public offering. The date has not been yet set, however it is expected that it could be as soon as sometime this week. If this were to be the case, it would mean that the stock of the company could be available for public trading in a matter of weeks, or by early November. This is all under the assumption that everything goes as expected and the process moves at full speed.

The Background

Twitter made public, by tweet of course, that it had filed with the proper channels. Under U.S law, this means that it can launch the first offering with 21 days. Now, it is important to note that the company does not have to launch in 21 days, but this is the earliest that it could happen. Potential buyers will simply have to sit and wait for the company to make public the formal announcement of when the initial public offering will actually take place. That being said, people close to the company have made it known that they are moving at full speed ahead to get the company publicly traded.

Anticipation

Twitter’s initial public offering could possibly be considered one of the biggest since Facebook last year. While Facebook opened at $16 billion, it is unclear what kind of numbers Twitter could put up. Twitter has posted less than $1 billion in revenue, however to compare Facebook had $3.7 billion in sales before opening its initial public offering. Private markets have appraised Twitter at right around $10 billion. This does not mean that the company will open for anything close to this number however. Facebook was appraised for 10 times more.

It is expected that Goldman Sachs will handle Twitter’s initial public offering. However, last week it is believed that Twitter also added on J.P Morgan and Morgan Stanley to form a group to handle the IPO. This information is coming from people that are close to the company, as no formal announcement has actually been made by Twitter. There was some concern that Twitter filed secretly with the government as is there right based on their sales numbers. However, this should not discredit them. There is nothing to show that companies who file in secret are putting themselves at a disadvantage when it comes to their initial public offering.

At this point in time, the only thing the public can do is wait for a formal announcement from Twitter. This will naturally come in the form of a tweet, and will sweep across the blogosphere and social media in a matter of minutes. Once that happens, the news will be sure to make headlines and the public lines up to grab a share of one of the most influential companies on the internet today. With any luck, the initial public offering of Twitter will shape the company for the better and lead to new and improved browsing for years to come.