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Twitter IPO Filing to Become Public This Week: Sources

9/30/2013

Twitter's S-1 registration statement for its initial public offering will become public this week, according to articles in The Wall Street Journal and on Quartz. This means that Twitter could go public at the end of this month or in November, if the process goes at full speed and the markets don't force a delay (which could be caused by a government shutdown, etc.).

Goldman Sachs is reported to be the "lead left" manager for Twitter's IPO, and JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are also reported to be part of the lead banks for the deal.

Here's a link to my prior post on Twitter - what is known at this point and what is speculation:
http://www.allenlatta.com/1/post/2013/09/twitter-files-for-its-ipo-what-we-know-for-certain-and-speculation.html

Link to The Wall Street Journal story (subscription required): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303464504579106151499047342.html

Link to Twitter IPO article on Quartz:
http://qz.com/129205/twitter-plans-to-make-its-ipo-filing-public-this-week/

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Inside The Fall of BlackBerry: The Globe and Mail Article

9/28/2013

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The Globe and Mail article "Inside the fall of Blackberry: How the smartphone investor failed to adapt" which appeared yesterday, is an interesting and in-depth look at the mistakes made by the smartphone company that led to its downfall. It's a good article and worth a read. Here's the link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-inside-story-of-why-blackberry-is-failing/article14563602/

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New SEC Fundraising (General Solicitation) Rules Take Effect

9/23/2013

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New rules relating to fundraising take effect today. These rules were issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as required by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act ("JOBS Act") that was enacted last year.

My advice to companies and entrepreneurs: Talk with a corporate securities attorney before you start any fundraising activity. The rules are complex and it would be easy to violate them. Violating these rules could carry pretty significant consequences, including possibly unwinding the fundraising after it is completed, civil lawsuits, SEC penalties, and potential criminal punishment.

Here are links to two articles covering these new rules.
The Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2013/09/23/startups-vcs-now-free-to-advertise-their-fundraising-status/

Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2013/09/23/general-solicitation-ban-lifted-today-three-things-you-must-about-it/

Here's a link to the SEC press release relating to the rules:
http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370539707782#.UkBkOoYsk_Y

Link to the rules: http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2013/33-9415.pdf

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Twitter Files For Its IPO - What We Know For Certain And Speculation

9/13/2013

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Twitter announced yesterday (via a tweet) that it had confidentially filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC for its initial public offering. Since then, the press has gone crazy with speculation over IPO valuation, revenue, timing of the IPO and bankers on the deal. Here we'll try to sift through the facts and the rumors.

IPO Valuation.

What we know for certain: nothing. The only time we'll actually know when the IPO is priced. Having said that, there were reports (see for example, here and here) of private sales of Twitter stock earlier this year and late last year at valuations ranging from $9 to $11 billion. The NY Times quotes a WedBush analyst that Twitter is now being valued at $15-$16 billion based on recent private sales.
Speculation: $10 to $20 billion. See for example, here, here and here.

Revenue.

What we know for certain: Twitter has under $1 billion revenue. We know that because a company must have under $1 billion in revenue to be able to file for an IPO confidentially under the JOBS Act.
Speculation: 2013E revenues of around $600 million and 2014E revenues of close to $1 billion, according to this article in the NY Times.

IPO Timing.

What we know for certain: nothing.
Speculation: Dan Primack of Fortune writes that Twitter's S-1 may be made public within the next few weeks, and that a 2013 IPO is possible.

Bankers.

What we know for certain: nothing.
Speculation: Goldman Sachs is the lead banker. Multiple new sources are reporting this, see here and here for examples.

Overall, all we really know at this point is that Twitter has under $1 billion in revenue. Much more will be known when (and if) its S-1 registration statement is made public.

Here's a link to a good article from the Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch blog discussing some of Twitter's private investors, including venture firms Union Square Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Benchmark Capital, BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Insight Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers.

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The Decline of PE Monitoring Fees - Fortune Article

9/6/2013

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In yesterday's article "The death of private equity's fee hogs," Dan Primack of Fortune explores the decline of monitoring fees charged by private equity funds to their portfolio companies. In the article, he discusses the recent sharp decline in these fees and the correlation with the recent increase in these fees being paid directly to the limited partners of the fund. As a limited partner, I welcome this trend. This is also in line with the ILPA's best practices guidelines, found in their Private Equity Principles publication. Note that the practice of charging portfolio companies monitoring fees applies in buyout funds, as venture funds have historically not charged monitoring fees to their portfolio companies.

Link to the Fortune article: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/05/the-death-of-private-equity-fee-hogs/

Link to the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA): www.ilpa.org
Link to ILPA's Private Equity Best Practices publication:
http://ilpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ILPA-Private-Equity-Principles-version-2.pdf

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Twitter IPO Filing to Become Public This Week: Sources

Inside The Fall of BlackBerry: The Globe and Mail Article

New SEC Fundraising (General Solicitation) Rules Take Effect

Twitter Files For Its IPO - What We Know For Certain And Speculation

The Decline of PE Monitoring Fees - Fortune Article

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