In a move designed to forestall an IPO for as long as possible, Twitter has a rule barring any investor, including employees, from selling more than 20% of their stock, according to a report. Twitter initiated the rule about a year ago, but it hadn’t been made public, according to CNNMoney . Read more »
LinkedIn Hits 150 Million Members
LinkedIn on Thursday announced it has 150 million members in its network, a 20 million increase over November. The figure was disclosed in a press release the company issued Thursday announcing its fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results. The company posted revenues of $167.7 million, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160 million for Q4 Read more »
Groupon Posts Loss, Stock Falls 12%
In its first quarter as a public company, Groupon on Wednesday posted a loss of $.08 per share, which sent the company’s stock sliding in after-hours trading. The consensus among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was that Groupon was going to post a profit of 3 cents a share on revenues of $473 million. Groupon beat the latter figure with sales of $506.5 million, up 194% vs. Read more »
How 9 Tech Giants Traded After Going Public [INFOGRAPHIC]
Now that Facebook has filed paperwork for its Initial Public Offering , the world will be watching the company’s value. Assuming the SEC approves the filing, stocks will likely begin trading in May. The social network will be offering $5 billion in stock, and some estimates of market value place the company at a whopping $100 billion Read more »
Facebook IPO Hitting in Late May [REPORT]
Facebook ‘s long-awaited IPO is likely to come in late May, according to a report. Citing “multiple sources,” All Things D reports that the social networking giant will offer shares to the general public during the third week of May. Read more »
Groupon’s Clicky the Value Wheel Lets You Spin for Discounts
Groupon is adding an element of chance to its daily deals offers with a new online feature called Clicky the Value Wheel that lets you spin to get further discounts. On the company’s blog , Naveen Koorakula and Sakina Arsiwala, directors of Groupon Social, were upfront about Clicky’s raison d’etre: “Clicky was designed to provide momentary distraction and meet the minimum threshold of amusement necessary for users to share Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel through social media channels, thereby virally spreading Groupon and increasing its number of active customers.” (The company’s deadpan approach to introducing Clicky is also evinced in the video below.) Clicky’s proposition is pretty straightforward: Groupon members can take a spin on Clicky and will be randomly awarded discounts. As the blog notes, the amount doled out in prizes will be less than the lifetime value of new customers drawn by Clicky. Read more »
How the Social Media IPOs of 2011 Fared [STUDY]
Social media continued to thrive in 2011 as it fomented revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Bahrain. But investors appeared to be a lot less enthralled. Looking back over the 19 social media IPOs of 2011, Kevin Pleines — an analyst with Birinyi Associates , a stock market research firm — found new social media stocks were generally a bad investment, as 82.4% were trading below their opening-day prices. Read more »
In-Flight Wi-Fi Provider Gogo Files For $100M IPO
Gogo , a firm known for providing Wi-Fi to airlines including Virgin America, Delta and Air Canada, among others, has filed for an IPO that could raise as much as $100 million. The filing reveals that Gogo posted $113.8 million in revenues for the first nine months of 2011, an 89.3% increase over the same period in 2010. The company’s revenues for 2010 were $94.7 million, a 157% jump over 2009 Read more »
Zynga to Raise $1 Billion in IPO [REPORT]
Zynga is offering 100 million shares to the public at $10 each for a potential $1 billion IPO, according to a report. Bloomberg is currently reporting the figure, but hasn’t elaborated further. Read more »
Yelp By the Numbers: 61 Million Visitors a Month, $58 Million Revenue
Yelp opened the hood on its financial operations on Thursday, giving potential investors a look inside the company’s business. In a prospectus filed with the SEC ahead of its planned IPO , Yelp revealed the company is not yet profitable, but has exhibited strong growth over the past year or so Read more »