Twitter Announces First Step Toward An IPO With A Tweet

Twitter filed for an IPO confidentially under a 2012 law intended to help emerging corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue go public.

Seven-year old Twitter, which allows users to send out streams of 140-character messages, has become an indispensable tool for governments, corporations and celebrities seeking to communicate with their audience, and for individuals seeking both news and entertainment.

The company makes money by inserting paid, targeted ads that resemble ordinary, user-generated content. Twitter’s success with its advertising model created a new paradigm for mobile advertising and prompted Facebook last year to adopt a similar ad product, called Sponsored Stories. Twitter has added Conversations thread recently for Mobile.

Twitter was one of the first to prove that in-stream ads could be a viable way to make money in the mobile era. Promoted Trends by Twitter has proven to lead to significant brand lift and increase in brand mentions at different stages of purchase cycle.

Twitter announced the filing with a Tweet.

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.

— Twitter (@twitter) September 12, 2013