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NYSE Performs Twitter IPO Dry Run

PLAYING IT SAFE

First simulation of market debut ever.

Remember the fiasco of Facebook’s glitchy entrance to the stock market? Well, the New York Stock Exchange sure does: for the first time ever, the NYSE on Saturday performed a simulated initial public offering for Twitter’s market debut, which could happen as early as November 7. Twitter intends to sell 70 million shares between $17 and $20 each, the biggest Internet IPO since Facebook (which sold 421 million shares for $38 each in May 2012). The high volume of trading caused glitches in Nasdaq’s system, causing major market investors to lose an estimated $500 million in the IPO. The NYSE tested for two things on Saturday: to make sure it could handle the volume of exchanges, and to make sure any firms that placed orders could receive prompt replies.

Read it at Reuters