Twitter Inc. (TWTR) jumped 73 percent in its trading debut, as investors paid a premium for its promises of fast growth. 
 
 The stock rose to $44.90 at the close in New York from the initial public offering price of $26, delivering the biggest one-day pop for an IPO that raised more than $1 billion since Alibaba.com Ltd. debuted in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twitter sold 70 million shares, raising $1.82 billion. 
 
 The microblogging website picked a price that valued it higher than Facebook Inc. (FB) and still drew more interest than anticipated. The San Francisco-based company, which is unprofitable and has one-fifth as many users as Facebook, is benefiting from investors’ thirst for companies that will grow quickly in expanding markets like mobile advertising. 
 
 “The company did everything to secure the most cash for itself while leaving some money for the IPO buyers,” said Josef Schuster, the founder of IPOX Schuster LLC, a Chicago-based manager of about $1.9 billion. “You need a pop at the opening to leave a good taste with everyone. They did a pretty good job managing the whole situation.” 
 
 At the current price, Twitter is valued at $24.9 billion, or 22 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion, according to analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 11.2 times that Facebook traded at today, and price-to-sales ratio of 11.7 for LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) 
 
 The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is crowded with traders and journalists on the morning of Twitterâs public stock debut, on Nov. 7, 2013. Photograph: New York Stock Exchange via AP Images Close The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is crowded with traders and journalists on... Read More Close Open The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is crowded with traders and journalists on the morning of Twitterâs public stock debut, on Nov. 7, 2013. Photograph: New York Stock Exchange via AP Images 
 
 Facebook declined 3.2 percent, and LinkedIn fell 4.2 percent today. At its market debut in 2012, Facebook’s stock was flat, propped up by bankers, while LinkedIn’s more than doubled on the day it went public in 2011. 
 
 Price ‘Hype’ 
 
 The pricing puts the onus on Twitter to deliver on its promises of fast growth after earlier pitching shares as low as $17. Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo has rallied investor interest in Twitter’s rapid sales curve -- with revenue more than doubling annually -- even with no clear path to making a profit. 
 
 The company received orders for about 30 times as many shares as it offered at the $26 IPO price, a person with knowledge of the matter said. About 8 million of the shares, or 11 percent of the total in the IPO, were allocated to retail investors, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A typical retail allocation is 10 percent to 15 percent. 
 
 Still, any price over $40 reflects “hype” and makes Twitter too risky of an investment, said Jeffrey Sica, president and chief investment officer of Sica Wealth Management LLC in Morristown, New Jersey. 
 
 ‘Absolute Froth’ 
 
 “I anticipated a very strong open, but when you start to approach these levels this is absolute froth,” he said. “There is nothing supporting this range. I think this is just way, way above what realistically we should be considering a stable open.” 
 
 Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group in New York, downgraded Twitter to a sell rating with a $30 price target. 
 
 “If you’ve got it, sell it,” Wieser said in an interview. “If there are willing buyers who have a view of the business today that gets them comfortable with this valuation then those people should hold it, but I can’t get there, and I’m not recommending my clients to hold it.” 
 
 CEO Costolo was at the New York Stock Exchange for the stock’s debut under the TWTR symbol, along with CFO Mike Gupta and co-founders Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey. 
 
 Executive Tweets 
 
 After the celebration at the exchange, executives dispersed. Costolo went to the New York Twitter office to talk to employees, then flew to Twitter’s San Francisco office to do the same. Twitter’s website and applications let people post 140-character messages to friends and online followers. Dorsey sent a tweet to congratulate the company’s executive team, receiving more than 200 retweets. 
 
 More Twitter News: 
 
 “My first of four client presos today starts in 10 mins. Back at it,” Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue, said in a tweet. 
 
 Twitter’s $1.82 billion IPO is almost as much as the $1.9 billion that Google Inc. raised in its 2004 IPO and makes it the largest IPO by a U.S. technology company since Facebook’s debut in May 2012. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) led the sale, working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) 
 
 Anti-Facebook IPO 
 
 The price rise underscores how Twitter has so far sidestepped some of the pitfalls that befell Facebook’s IPO last year. Facebook’s offering was marred by a trading snag on the Nasdaq Stock Market and investor backlash over its valuation. The company at the time was priced at 107 times trailing 12-month earnings on a fully diluted basis, making it more expensive than 99 percent of all companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Facebook saw its stock quickly sink below its $38 debut price, a level it didn’t cross back above until this August. 
 
 By contrast, Twitter decided to list on the New York Stock Exchange and chose Goldman Sachs to lead its offering, while Morgan Stanley (MS) led Facebook’s IPO. The company also sought to avoid hype by filing for an IPO secretly with the Securities and Exchange Commission and earlier setting a price range for its shares at a discount to competitors. 
 
 Twitter’s stock gain may erase some of the aftertaste of the Facebook, Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) and Groupon Inc. (GRPN) IPOs, each of which lost half their value within six months of their debuts, sending a chill over consumer-technology IPOs and some Silicon Valley startup valuations. 
 
 Twitter’s Journey 
 
 Demand for Twitter’s stock exceeded the supply even before bankers started formally asking for orders, people familiar with the matter have said. On Monday, Twitter raised the proposed price range for the 70 million shares sold in the IPO to $23 to $25 each, up from the earlier range of $17 to $20. 
 
 “People are really looking all the way out to their 2015 and 2016 revenue estimates to price this,” said Larry Levine, a partner in financial-advisory firm McGladrey LLP in Chicago. “The risk to buying Twitter is if Twitter does not achieve its very lofty growth estimates.” 
 
 Twitter will have 544.7 million shares of common stock outstanding after the IPO, its filings show. Including restricted stock and options, Twitter will have about 694.8 million shares outstanding. The sale didn’t include an extra 10.5 million shares that underwriters have an option to buy, according to the company’s prospectus. 
 
 Right Time 
 
 The offering caps a journey for Twitter from a niche short-messaging service to a global social-media platform for celebrities, politicians and others. Started in 2006 as a project at failed startup Odeo, the website now logs more than 500 million tweets each day, the company has said. That’s up from 2 million a day in January 2009. 
 
 “I have e-mails going back to 2009 asking me about when Twitter is going public,” said Bijan Sabet, a general partner at Spark Capital, which owns about 6 percent of Twitter’s shares, worth $1.46 billion. “And before that, e-mails asking when Twitter is going to generate revenue. This company has always had a lot of pressure. They took their time in figuring out the best way to go public and the right time to go public.” 
 
 Twitter still needs to deliver on its business model. Twitter’s loss widened to $64.6 million in the September quarter from $21.6 million a year earlier, and it is unlikely to be profitable until 2015, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. LinkedIn and Facebook were both profitable at the time of their IPOs. 
 
 Mobile Users 
 
 While Twitter’s revenue has surged, reaching $534.5 million in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, user growth is slowing, filings show. The service had 231.7 million monthly users in the quarter that ended in September, up 39 percent from a year earlier. That compares with 65 percent growth in the prior year. 
 
 Twitter has been touting its engagement with mobile users, where other Web companies have struggled. About three-fourths of Twitter’s active users accessed the service from mobile devices in the three months ended in September, compared with 69 percent in the year-earlier period, according to the filing. More than 70 percent of advertising revenue comes from those devices, a higher proportion than Facebook. 
 
 The money from the public offering will help Twitter build its business outside the U.S., where it got 77 percent of users yet only 26 percent of revenue in the third quarter. The company will also expand its infrastructure and work on products that will help it attract more users and advertisers. 
 
 “All that points to a lot of upside,” said Paul Zwillenberg, a London-based partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group. 
 
 To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at sfrier1@bloomberg.net; Lee Spears in New York at lspears3@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam at ptam13@bloomberg.net; Jeffrey McCracken at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net 

 Twitter had a strong public stock debut Thursday in the most highly anticipated initial public offering since Facebook's last year. 
 
 A banner adorns the facade of the New York Stock Exchange in advance of Twitter's initial public offering Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, in New York. Twitter shares, valued at $26 per share, are set to begin... (Associated Press) 
 
 A technician checks the bell podium of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Twitter set a price of $26 per share for its initial public offering on Wednesday evening and will begin trading... (Associated Press) 
 
 Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey, and co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, front row left to right, applaud as they watch the the New York Stock Exchange opening bell... (Associated Press) 
 
 Specialist Glenn Carell, who will handle the Twitter IPO, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Twitter set a price of $26 per share for its initial public... (Associated Press) 
 
 A man walks his dogs past the New York Stock Exchange prior to the Twitter IPO, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 in New York. Twitter set a price of $26 per share for its initial public offering on Wednesday evening... (Associated Press) 
 
 Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, center, and Mike Gupta, chief financial officer of Twitter, wait for shares to begin trading during the IPO, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Twitter Chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey, co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams and, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo pose for a group photo after their company's IPO began trading, on the floor of the New... (Associated Press) 
 
 Twitter signage is draped on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013 in New York. Twitter set a price of $26 per share for its initial public offering on Wednesday evening and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Twitter's stock opened at $45.10, or 73 percent above its $26 IPO price, and kept most of that gain by the time it closed. The opening price values Twitter at more than $31 billion based on its outstanding stock, options and restricted stock that'll be available after the IPO. It traded as high as $50.09 in the morning. 
 
 The high price comes despite the fact that Twitter has never turned a profit in seven years of existence. Revenue has been growing, but the company is also investing heavily in more data centers and hiring more employees. 
 
 Twitter is trading under the ticker symbol "TWTR." 
 
 Here's a running account of Twitter's first day of trading, presented in reverse chronological order. All times are EST. 
 
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 _ 4:15 p.m.: AP's (at)liedtkesfc posts photo from Twitter co-founder (at)noah Glass' home: pic.twitter.com/2DduLFRbNZ 
 
 ___ 
 
 _ 4:10 p.m.: $TWTR's closing price of $44.90 gives Twitter a value of more than $31 billion. 
 
 It's actually 20 cents lower than the opening price, but still 73 percent higher than the $26 IPO price. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: One way to read this: If you bought Twitter at its first trade of $45.10, you lost (a little) money today. $TWTR 
 
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 _ 4 p.m.: First day of trading is done. Twitter soars about 73 percent from IPO price, keeping most of gain from opening. 
 
 ___ 
 
 _ 3:55 p.m.: As Twitter's first trading day nears an end, keep in mind at least one analyst believes $twtr is now a "Sell." 
 
 Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser slashed his rating on Twitter Inc. from "Buy" on Thursday after the stock opened at $45.10, about 50 percent above his price target of $30. 
 
 His price target valued the company at 21 times its free cash flow in 2018, a multiple that exceeded even Facebook at 17 times and Google at 16 times. With a stock price of $45, Twitter would be worth 32 times its 2018 free cash flow, which he wrote in a research note was "overly optimistic." 
 
 Wieser told AP's (at)BarbaraOrtutay that he still has a very positive view of the business, but believes the company isn't worth as much as it has been trading at. 
 
 "The market can beg to differ," he said. 
 
 _ Ryan Nakashima, Los Angeles, (at)rnakashi 
 
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 _ 3:35 p.m.: Twitter has no shortage of co-founders. AP's (at)liedtkesfc tries to track down the one who wasn't (at)NYSE for opening 
 
 Here's his account: 
 
 While Twitter founders Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone were in New York celebrating the company's stock debut Thursday, a former partner involved in Twitter's creation was in the midst of a home improvement project on the other side of the country. 
 
 At least that's how it looked when I swung by the home of Noah Glass, (at)noah, in San Francisco's Mission District neighborhood. 
 
 Glass, 43, says he and Dorsey conceived Twitter during a brainstorming session after a night of drinking in San Francisco nearly eight years ago. Dorsey has a different account, maintaining he came up with the idea himself on a San Francisco playground. Tweets and blog posts from 2006 make it clear Glass was deeply involved. He even came up with the service's name, originally shortening it to "twittr." 
 
 For reasons that aren't entirely clear, Glass was ousted from Twitter before it turned into a cultural phenomenon and didn't even get much company stock, according to a new book about Twitter's history. 
 
 I was curious to see how Glass was handling this momentous day for Twitter. So I hopped on a train near Twitter's San Francisco headquarters and rode the subway to the next stop. Glass lives with his 7-month-old daughter and the baby's French-speaking mother at the end of a dirt lot in a small home that was set up after a 1906 earthquake destroyed much of the city. These homes are still known as "earthquake shacks." 
 
 The front gate was open, as was the front door. As I walked up to the threshold, I could hear the pounding of a hammer in the back and a baby blissfully playing in a stroller. The French-accented woman nearby cheerfully greeted me, but when I told her that I was a reporter wondering if Noah wanted to talk to me about Twitter, she informed me that he wasn't interested. She was very nice about it, and we wished me a very nice day. 
 
 It seemed like a happy home, even if it isn't as grandiose as the mansions that many Twitter employees can now afford to buy. (hash)ForgottenFounder 
 
 More on the founders: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/flock-feathered-twitters-nest 
 
 _ Michael Liedtke, San Francisco, (at)liedtkesfc 
 
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 _ 3:25 p.m.: (at)Twitter CEO (at)DickC says growth is just a question of connecting with potential new users 
 
 Twitter CEO Dick Costolo appeared on CNBC ahead of his company's trading debut at the NYSE to talk about his company and its potential for growth. 
 
 CNBC's David Faber said that joining Twitter made sense for Faber and a lot of other people early on. But he asked how the company planned to keep growing and attract users outside of its traditional base. 
 
 Costolo said that it's all about making connections with people and helping them see how Twitter fits into their lives. 
 
 "It's all about, for us, helping people bridge that gap between `I've heard about Twitter,' to getting exactly where you and so many other people here today are." 
 
 _ Bree Fowler, New York, (at)APBreeFowler 
 
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 _ 3:05 p.m.: AP's (at)liedtkesfc explores the neighborhood outside (at)Twitter HQ and sees contrasts. 
 
 The San Francisco neighborhood outside Twitter's headquarters provides a forlorn contrast to the suddenly rich people working inside the building. 
 
 These are among the meaner streets in downtown San Francisco, long populated with the destitute who have no place to live and the miscreants who resort to crime to make ends meet. In hopes of cleaning the area up, the city of San Francisco gave Twitter local tax breaks on employee stock options to help persuade the company to move into the neighborhood two years ago. 
 
 But times are still tough here. Scruffy-looking people gathered against the wall of a post office across the street from Twitter's headquarters. Four of them had just spent the night in a homeless shelter. All of them said that they wished that they owned Twitter stock, yet they maintained that they didn't really envy Twitter employees becoming wealthier as the stock soared Thursday. 
 
 There was a clump of litter just a few feet away. Amid the empty coffee cups, cigarette butts and empty liquor bottles, there were two scratch-off games for the California lottery that had been discarded because they didn't pay off. (hash)LandofBrokenDreams 
 
 _ Michael Liedtke, San Francisco, (at)liedtkesfc 
 
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 _ 2:50 p.m.: In Asia, (at)Twitter has competition from local companies, reports AP's (at)YKLeeAP 
 
 Led by Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and India, Asia was the fastest growing region for Twitter in summer 2010, according to Semiocast, a Paris-based social media research company. But growth has slowed in South Korea and Japan, a red flag for Twitter as both countries are wealthy and have high rates of mobile device usage _ now the predominant way Twitter is accessed. 
 
 New mobile applications from companies such as South Korea's Kakao Corp. and Japan's Line Corp., have experienced explosive growth, making them potent competitors for eyeballs and advertising. 
 
 Why are people leaving Twitter or spending less time on it? 
 
 Too open. Too crowded. Too difficult. 
 
 "In South Korea and Japan, open type social networking services like Twitter and Facebook are losing steam," said Justin Lee, an analyst of mobile messengers and games at BNP Paribas. "Closed social networking services where messages are shared among a small group of people will become more popular." 
 
 Twitter remains blocked from China's vast market but another giant, India, is open to Twitter. It has amassed 27 million users there, according to Semiocast. Yet Twitter acknowledged in IPO filings that low use of smartphones in emerging markets such as India could hamper the ability of advertisers to deliver compelling advertisements and hurt its earnings potential. 
 
 International users accounted for about three quarters of Twitter's members but only a quarter of revenue in the first nine months of this year. About 25 percent of Twitter's 232 million active users are in Asia. 
 
 _ Youkyung Lee, Seoul, South Korea, (at)YKLeeAP 
 
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 _ 2:30 p.m.: (at)Twitter now among the most valuable media companies, notes AP's (at)rnakashi 
 
 Like Twitter, the other large media companies in the country rely to some extent on advertising revenue. As of mid-afternoon, Twitter's value is nearly $33 billion, after including options and restricted stock that'll be available after the IPO. 
 
 The market value of other media companies: CBS Corp., $34.7 billion; Discovery Communications Inc., $30 billion; Viacom Inc., $38.8 billion; The Walt Disney Co., $120 billion; Time Warner Inc. $60.3 billion. 
 
 _ Ryan Nakashima, Los Angeles, (at)rnakashi 
 
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 _ 2:10 p.m.: (at)NYSEEuronext has congratulated (at)Twitter "on a successful (hash)NYSEIPO! We're excited to be your partner." 
 
 ___ 
 
 _ 1:55 p.m.: Looking back at Twitter's IPO price, here are some quick facts from (at)Dealogic 
 
 Twitter priced its IPO at $26, raising $1.82 billion. If the offering's underwriters fully exercise their option to buy more shares, the IPO's value will rise to $2.09 billion. That would make it the second-largest Internet IPO by an American company on record, following Facebook Inc.'s $16 billion, but beating Google Inc.'s $1.92 billion. 
 
 The research firm Dealogic says Twitter's IPO is set to be the third-largest U.S.-listed IPO so far this year, behind Plains GP Holdings at $2.9 billion and Zoetis' $2.6 billion. 
 
 Including Twitter, U.S.-listed tech industry IPOs have raised $7.8 billion through 41 deals so far this year. That's down from $20.5 billion generated by 35 deals during the same period of 2012, though Facebook accounted for $16 billion of the 2012 total. 
 
 Tech companies tend to post bigger first-day jumps than the overall market. The average one-day jump for tech industry IPOs this year is 35 percent, compared with an average gain of 17 percent for 2013 IPOs overall. Twitter's stock opened at 73 percent above the IPO price. 
 
 _ Bree Fowler, New York, (at)APBreeFowler 
 
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 _ 1:40 p.m.: (at)Twitter soars while drop in overall market pulls down rest of Internet cos. 
 
 Twitter shares are flying high, but other Internet companies are having a tough time getting off the ground. 
 
 While Twitter's debut likely helped send shares of Facebook Inc. down, the overall tech industry also took a hit as the markets pulled back from record levels on worries that the Federal Reserve could soon start curtailing its economic stimulus program. 
 
 Facebook shares fell $1.07, or 2.2 percent, to $48.05 after dropping as low as $47.41 earlier in the day. Other Internet companies such as LinkedIn Corp., AOL Inc., Google Inc., Pandora Media Inc. and Zillow Inc. all posted small to moderate losses. 
 
 _ Bree Fowler, New York, (at)APBreeFowler 
 
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 _ 1:20 p.m.: Will Twitter's stock keep going up? There is risk of Twitter burnout. (hash)TwitterHaters 
 
 There's plenty of evidence online about the celebrities who tire of Twitter. The long list of Twitter quitters includes everyone from Alec Baldwin to Miley Cyrus to "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof, though some eventually return. 
 
 Some get overwhelmed by followers spewing hatred. Others get addicted to interacting with huge fan bases and need to pull away. Even non-celebrity users complain of the amount of time spent posting and replying and vow to close accounts to get on with their lives. 
 
 With its public stock debut, the company has been selling potential investors on the idea that its user base of 232 million will continue to grow along with the 500 million tweets that are sent each day. The company's revenue depends on ads it inserts into the stream of messages. 
 
 But Wall Street could lose its big bet on social media if prolific tweeters lose their voice. 
 
 Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/user-burnout-could-threaten-twitters-prosperity 
 
 _ Ryan Nakashima, Los Angeles, (at)rnakashi 
 
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 _ 1:05 p.m.: Twitter chairman (at)jack makes reference to first tweet in Vine video post 
 
 About two hours ago, Twitter chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted this: "just setting up our $twtr _https://vine.co/v/hI1nP3vQOBI" The link is to video on Twitter's Vine app, showing traders shouting on NYSE trading floor. 
 
 The tweet, of course, is a reference to the world's first tweet, which was sent by Dorsey on March 21, 2006, and read "just setting up my twttr." Dorsey uses "$twtr" in Thursday's post in a reference to the stock's ticker symbol. Putting a dollar sign before it is a common way to refer to stocks on Twitter. 
 
 _ Barbara Ortutay, New York, (at)BarbaraOrtutay 
 
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 _ 12:50 p.m.: (at)Twitter is trading very heavily in its first day on (at)NYSE. 
 
 About 82 million shares of Twitter have exchanged hands already. To put that in perspective, Twitter only sold 70 million shares in its IPO. One way to think about it, every share issued in Twitter's IPO has been traded more than once, and the session isn't half over yet. 
 
 Of course, not every investor who got shares of Twitter at the $26 IPO price is selling Thursday. Many large institutional investors are buy-and-hold firms. If every investor had sold at the debut, the stock would not have opened at 73 percent above the IPO price. 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 12:35 p.m.: (at)TDAmeritrade official says stock debut is flawless 
 
 "It's gone on pretty flawlessly," says JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at online brokerage TD Ameritrade. 
 
 For one, he says, the broader market's downturn isn't affecting Twitter much. Trading is also tight, rather than volatile, which indicates that people feel like it was "pretty fairly priced," he says. 
 
 _ Barbara Ortutay, New York, (at)BarbaraOrtutay 
 
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 _ 12:15 p.m.: Learn more about (at)vivienneharr, (at)sirpatstew and (at)bostonpolice official who rang (at)NYSEEuronext opening bell 
 
 Crediting its success to its users, Twitter gave the honor of ringing Thursday's opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to three high-profile tweeters: a child activist, a legendary British actor and a Boston Police official. 
 
 Nine-year-old Vivienne Harr used a lemonade stand to raise more than $100,000 to support efforts to eliminate child slavery around the world. Her pink lemonade, along with a ginger-infused version, is now being bottled and sold online. A portion of the profits is donated to groups that work toward ending child slavery. More than 22,000 people follow (at)vivienneharr on Twitter. 
 
 Patrick Stewart is known both for his Twitter presence and his stage and screen careers. His highest profile roles have included Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" movies. About 722,000 people follow (at)sirpatstew. Stewart tweeted a picture of himself on Halloween dressed as a lobster in a bathtub. It was retweeted nearly 39,000 times. 
 
 Cheryl Fiandaca has been chief of public information for the Boston Police Department since July 2012. Fiandaca spearheaded the department's social media efforts, and her department used Twitter to get information to the public in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. More than 266,000 people follow (at)bostonpolice. 
 
 Bree Fowler, New York, (at)APBreeFowler 
 
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 _ 11:55 a.m.: (at)Wedbush analyst (at)MichaelPachter says high debut price suggests (hash)TwitterIPO was managed well. 
 
 Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says the surge "clearly shows that demand exceeds supply of shares." 
 
 "It's impossible to know what the real value is," he says. 
 
 Still, he acknowledges that the price is "pretty high" and not something he was expecting. 
 
 _ Barbara Ortutay, New York, (at)BarbaraOrtutay 
 
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 _ 11:45 a.m.: It's (hash)BusinessAsUsual at (at)Twitter headquarters, though employees seem happy. 
 
 Although Twitter's fortunes are already soaring on Wall Street, there haven't been any audible whoops of joy emanating from the company's San Francisco headquarters yet. But almost every employee walking in and out of the building is grinning. 
 
 Twitter seems to know that it needs to accelerate its revenue growth to support its lofty stock price. A few employees just came out to usher in a group of advertising agency representatives. (hash)TheNewReality 
 
 --Michael Liedtke, San Francisco, (at)liedtkesfc 
 
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 _ 11:30 a.m.: (at)Barclays official in charge of stock debut speaks with AP's (at)KenSweet, admits being "a little nervous." 
 
 It was the biggest IPO of the year for Glenn Carell, the Barclays Capital official in charge of Twitter's stock debut. He has been doing it for 21 years and says, "I was a little nervous, but it went well." 
 
 Twitter hired Barclays to be its "designated market maker," which supervises the trading of a company's stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO process itself was managed by three other investment banks. 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 11:05 a.m.: RT (at)KenSweet: Twitter took a long time to open due to the deal size. Goldman also likes to take its time. 
 
 Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase are the three investment banks in charge of Twitter's IPO. 
 
 After debuting at $45.10, the stock is now trading at $47.85, or 84 percent above the IPO price. 
 
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 _ 10:55 a.m.: AP's (at)BarbaraOrtutay notes that the $31 billion value puts Twitter in the ballpark of Yum Brands and Deere & Co. 
 
 It's also slightly below State Street Corp. 
 
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 _ 10:53 a.m.: The opening price values Twitter at $31.3 billion. 
 
 To calculate its value, the AP is using 694.8 million shares that Twitter is expected to have outstanding after the IPO, counting restricted shares and stock options it plans to issue to employees. At the $26 IPO price, the value was more than $18 billion. 
 
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 _ 10:51 a.m.: Twitter stock opens at $45.10, 73 percent above IPO price 
 
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 _ 10:50 a.m.: Range is now $45 to $45.25, or up to 74 percent above IPO price. Very close to debut. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: They're closing the book. 
 
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 _ 10:45 a.m. AP's (at)KenSweet says current bid is $45.25. The debut is near in (hash)TwitterIPO. 
 
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 _ 10:40 a.m.: Patrick Stewart tweets on (hash)Ring of opening bell as Twitter trade debut imminent. 
 
 RT (at)SirPatStew: Honored to join (at)ev (at)jack (at)biz (at)dickc & the (at)Twitter team at their historic IPO this morning. (hash)Ring! pic.twitter.com/XaJpYW2kIh 
 
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 _ 10:35 a.m.: It's getting close to Twitter's stock debut. First indication for opening price is even narrower: $45.50-$46.50. 
 
 The high end would be 79 percent above its IPO price. 
 
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 _ 10:30 a.m.: AP's (at)KenSweet now says opening price narrowed: $45-$47. 
 
 He reports: "This is a good sign. Could mean we're finding the right price. Progress." 
 
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 _ 10:20 a.m.: AP's (at)KenSweet says opening price is expected even higher: $43-$47. 
 
 The range for first indication means Twitter could start trading at up to 81 percent above its IPO price. 
 
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 _ 10:15 a.m.: RT (at)KenSweet: I've heard some traders mention that this may not open until 1030, maybe 11. But things are changing rapidly. 
 
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 _ 10:10 a.m.: AP market reporter (at)KenSweet explains the role (at)Barclays has in (hash)TwitterIPO. 
 
 Trading for Twitter's stock is under the supervision of Barclays Capital. Twitter hired the bank to be its "designated market maker." A DMM supervises the trading of a company's stock. He or she is an experienced trader in charge of ensuring that buying and selling go smoothly. If trading becomes volatile, the DMM can step in and buy shares using his or her firm's own money. 
 
 DMMs are especially important the day a company goes public, because the DMM coordinates between Twitter, the company's investment banks and NYSE's floor traders to get a stock trading. If technical problems arise, the NYSE uses DMMs to bypass electronic trading systems, allowing humans to trade a company's stock. That is not possible on all-electronic stock exchanges such as the Nasdaq, which had technical problems during Facebook's IPO last year. 
 
 Barclays' role as Twitter's DMM does not mean it is in charge of the entire IPO process. That role falls to Twitter's investment banks: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase. 
 
 Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/twitter-picks-barclays-coordinate-ipo-trading 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 10 a.m.: (hash)TwitterIPO first indication for opening price: $42-46. 
 
 That means Twitter could start trading at up to 77 percent above its IPO price. Trading is to begin soon as representatives from Barclays continue negotiations to find the right price. 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 9:50 a.m.: With the (hash)Ring of the (hash)NYSEBell past, what will happen? (at)KenSweet reports. 
 
 Traders gather around Twitter's booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. At Twitter's post, the company's "designated market maker" starts taking orders from the traders, who are representing dozens of firms and hundreds of investors. 
 
 The goal of the DMM, who used to be known as the NYSE's specialists, is to figure out what is the best price to start trading Twitter's shares. 
 
 Due to massive investor and media interest in Twitter, the actual negotiation over what are the right price for Twitter's now-public shares will take some time. It could take as little as 20 minutes, or it could take an hour. The NYSE wants to avoid the trading debacle that Nasdaq faced with last year's Facebook's IPO, so it's going to be careful. 
 
 Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/going-public-how-twitters-ipo-will-work 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 9:40 a.m.: The market is open at (at)nyse, though Twitter's stock won't trade right away. 
 
 RT (at)NYSEEuronext: (hash)RING! Markets OPEN. (hash)NYSEBell has rung, now begins (hash)TwitterIPO price discovery. Wait for it . pic.twitter.com/gPxGgB6QWa 
 
 The opening bid is $35, reports AP's (at)KenSweet. It's the first indication of where the stock will open later in the morning. 
 
 As the NYSE's opening bell was rung, the graphic below displayed the hashtag (hash)Ring! 
 
 Who rang the bell? 
 
 RT (at)NYSEEuronext: (at)Twitter owes success to its users, so gives (hash)NYSEBell to (at)SirPatrickStew, (at)VivienneHarr & (at)Bostonpolice (hash)TwitterIPO pic.twitter.com/fAprlGV8Vs 
 
 _ Bree Fowler, New York, (at)APBreeFowler 
 
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 _ 9:25 a.m.: What's being said on Twitter? IPO is the 10th most popular trending topic in the U.S. 
 
 IPO is behind Thanksgiving, Texas, NFL and (hash)throwbackthursday. 
 
 Worldwide, it doesn't make into the Top 10. Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus does. It's his birthday, after all. 
 
 _ Barbara Ortutay, New York, (at)BarbaraOrtutay 
 
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 _ 9:05 a.m.: RT (at)KenSweet: Floor trader Kenneth Polcari thinks twitter's $26 share price is pretty fair. Doesn't expect it to double on the open. 
 
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 _ 8:50 a.m.: Busy morning at (at)nyse trading floor, reports AP's (at)KenSweet 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: Orders for Twitter have been coming in since 8 am, floor trader Jonathan Corpina tells me. Very busy. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: Corpina expects a smooth opening. The NYSE does IPOs all the time, he says. The difference here is volume and media attention. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: Traders use these handheld wireless computers to send orders. Paper orders ended a long time ago: pic.twitter.com/bwz8UK4xcB 
 
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 _ 8:40 a.m.: Why Twitter went to (at)nyse. Pressure is on with opening bell less than an hour away. (hash)lessonsfromFB 
 
 Twitter chose to go public on the NYSE over the all-electronic Nasdaq. One of the reasons why Twitter likely chose the NYSE over the Nasdaq has to do with problems Facebook faced with its Nasdaq-listed IPO last year. A glitch in Nasdaq's trading software led to trading delays and order failures on Facebook's first day of trading. 
 
 The NYSE isn't taking any chances with Twitter. The exchange tested its trading software on Oct. 26 to prepare for Twitter's debut. If the NYSE faces technical problems with its ordering software, the exchange can switch over the traditional human-based stock trading that dominated Wall Street for decades. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: NYSE traders and execs are really playing up the human element to this IPO. It's a shot across the bow at the Nasdaq. 
 
 Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/twitter-list-new-york-stock-exchange 
 
 _ Ken Sweet, New York, (at)KenSweet 
 
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 _ 8:20 a.m.: AP markets reporter (at)KenSweet says media outnumber traders 5:1 (at)nyse trading floor 
 
 It's a media madhouse. But it's still more than an hour before the opening bell, so more traders should be coming. Expect a big crowd. 
 
 RT (at)KenSweet: The NYSE is decorated head to toe. with twitter logos. They went big here to promote: pic.twitter.com/pnwRQ9e6QG 
 
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 _ 8 a.m.: After (hash)TwitterIPO pricing, market debut comes Thursday. 
 
 It should come as no surprise that Twitter used Twitter to announce its public stock debut. 
 
 It began with a tweet on Sept. 12: The 7-year-old company posted on its official Twitter account that it has "confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO." Details about offering emerged after the IPO documents were released publicly later. 
 
 On Oct. 24, Twitter set its IPO price target at $17 to $20 per share. It raised that to $23 and $25 per share, signaling an enthusiastic response from prospective investors. The actual price on Wednesday night was even higher, at $26. That bodes well for the company's stock when trading begins. 
 
 Twitter also took to Twitter to announce that price: https://twitter.com/twitter/status/398235511254298624/photo/1 
 
 The company is offering 70 million shares in the IPO, plus an option to buy another 10.5 million. If all shares are sold, the IPO will raise $2.09 billion, making it the biggest IPO for an Internet company since Facebook raised $16 billion last year. 
 
 Of course, Facebook made its debut with high hopes, only to see its stock fall below the IPO price by the second day of trading. Twitter has valued itself at just a fraction of Facebook and sought to cool expectations in the months and weeks leading up to the offering. 
 
 _ Barbara Ortutay, New York, (at)BarbaraOrtutay
– Twitter, aka TWTR, wrapped up a strong debut on the New York Stock Exchange today by closing at $44.90 per share, up 73% from the IPO price of $26, reports the Wall Street Journal. The stock opened strong at $45.10 and pretty much stayed that way through the trading day, drawing the inevitable comparisons to Facebook's lousy debut 18 months ago. The closing price puts the value of the company (which has yet to turn a profit in seven years) at $31 billion, reports AP. As Bloomberg puts it, "investors paid a premium for its promises of fast growth."