"#Ring!" did tweet Twitter, in a self-aware acknowledgement of its new status as a public company. The social network launched itself onto the stock market at 14.30 GMT this afternoon (7 November) where it is now floating like a swan in shark-infested waters.
The company opened with 70 million shares and while the original valuation pegged it at $14.2 billion (£8.8 billion), but that has now rocketed 73 percent to $31.3 billion (£19.5 billion), according to the Associated Press. Yesterday Twitter priced its IPO at $26 (£16) per share, but it started trading today at $45.10 (£28.14) per share and at the time of writing is closer to $46 (£28.70). To put that into perspective, Facebook is currently valued at $48.06 (£29.99) per share.
Twitter has 230 million users worldwide and boasts celebrities and presidents among its users. Although it's on track to earn $500 million (£312 million) in revenue this year, the company recorded losses of $69 million (£42 million) in the last quarter and isn't set to record a profit. Facebook on the other hand has a billion users worldwide and was valued at $16 billion (£9.9 billion) when it went public in 2012.
"Twitter's valuation may seem high, but we have to be conscious that the global marketing industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars -- a pot of money that we expect programmatic advertising platforms to be taking an increasingly large portion of in the future," says Rupert Staines, MD UK & Europe of RadiumOne in a statement.
"One worry for the company and potential investors has to be the risk of overcooking the dish, as seen with Facebook initially. Twitter has a huge potential in the online advertising market and is a company to reckon with, but let's not forget that the online advertising market is bigger than just one company and over-inflated expectations could skew the perceived value of its shares."
The bell at the New York Stock Exchange was rung today by Sir Patrick Stewart and nine-year-old Vivienne Harr, who ran a lemonade stand for 365 days as a protest against child slavery.
The Telegraph is quoting Stewart as saying: "It's a little bit late in the game for me to become a poster boy for any organisation." But don't be fooled by his modesty; Stewart has been doing some sterling work on Twitter recently, wishing his followers a Happy Halloween by posting a picture of himself lying in a bath dressed as a lobster.
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