10 Fun Facts About Twitter Stock and the Twitter IPO

Are you excited about the possiblity of adding Twitter stock to your portfolio? You should be- it's the culmination of years of hard work and business development, and Wall Street is abuzz right now with activity related to the Twitter IPO.

Here are some fun facts about Twitter stock and their impending IPO:

1. The Twitter IPO date has been pushed to November 7, 2013 (with earlier predictions ranging from October to mid-November).
2. The projected IPO price of Twitter stock is $17-$20 per share.
3. Based on the number of shares being offered, and the projected share price, the valuation of Twitter as a company is about $10 billion.
4. Twitter is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, not the NASDAQ. The NASDAQ is traditionally the place for tech IPOs. Maybe they are scared of the technical glitches that harmed Facebook's first day of trading? 
5. The New York Stock Exchange is very automated and has similar, if not better, technology than the NASDAQ. 
6. The banks involved in the Twitter IPO make money in the banking fees they charge. For Twitter stock that is 3.2%. It may seem low, but the size of the transaction still means an enormous cut for Goldman Sachs. It's not the percentage, but the dollar amount that counts.
7. The "roadshow" is the marketing campaign used by Goldman Sachs and the other investments banks to market and sell Twitter stock. Click here to watch the Twitter Roadshow video.
8. IPO is the abbreviation for Initial Public Offering, the first time a privately held company will become a publicly trade company. 
9. After the IPO, all the Twitter executives and staff will have money to manage. Goldman Sachs will make their money off the management fees and the recurring fees from that money management. 
10. The general public, unless they have large accounts, cannot buy Twitter stock before Twitter is officially a listed company. The shares become available to the public to trade after the IPO.

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The Buttonwood Agreement in 1792 Gave Birth to the New York Stock Exchange

By early 1792, Wall Street was enjoying its first bull market. Several merchants, encouraged by the increased activity, kept a small inventory of securities on hand that would be sold over the counter like any other of their wares. Today’s over-the-counter market got its name from this early form of trading. Business was booming. Some days as many as 100 bank shares would be traded. Things were at times very chaotic and businessmen realized that it needed to be organized.

On May 17, 1792, twenty-four men signed a document they called “The Buttonwood Agreement”. In the agreement they agreed to trade securities only amongst themselves, to maintain fixed commission rates, and to avoid other auctions. The Buttonwood Agreement turned trading into a member’s only activity. The Buttonwood Agreement signers are considered to be the original members of the New York Stock Exchange. Trading took place outside, under the tree, until the Tontine Coffee House was completed the following year in 1793. The Tontine Coffee House was located at the northwest corner of Wall and William Streets.

The Buttonwood tree stood outside at about 68 Wall Street today. The tree stood on Wall Street until June 14, 1865 when it fell over during a storm. The news was treated like the death of a family member, and it was was widely reported in all the local media.