If you’ve ever wanted to own a part of Twitter, you may soon have your chance.
The company revealed—in a tweet, naturally—that it filed the required paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to hold an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and float on the stock market.
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
The company has quietly shifted the pieces into place for an IPO over the last several months, by, for instance, hiring someone to create financial reports for Wall Street traders to pore over.
Twitter will be keen to avoid the sharp dip in stock price Facebook saw after it went public in May 2012. On Wednesday, as Facebook reached an all-time high stock price, CEO Mark Zuckerberg advised Twitter not to worry about going public.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the tweet was accurate, reports Mike Isaac at All Things D.
As ever, Twitter was quick to joke about the company’s announcement.
@twitter Not so confidential anymore, amiright?
— Nathan Bransford (@NathanBransford) September 12, 2013
Parody announcements popped up on Twitter’s video service, Vine:
And journalists and media folks flocked to tweet about the story—which is a hell of an endorsement.
Everyone in the news business is currently tweeting about Twitter’s IPO filing, which only proves the value proposition of their product.
— Kylie Sobel (@KylieSobel) September 12, 2013
Illustration by Jason Reed
