Twitter files to raise $1 billion in IPO

Twitter as filed its general prospectus for an initial public offering of shares in the US.
While the company has yet to fix how many shares it will sell or a price for the new stock, the document provides details on the messaging company's financial results for the first time. Twitter recorded revenue of $254 million in the first six months of this year, up from $122.4 million a year earlier, while its net loss swelled to $69 million from $49 million. 

Twitter reported an average 218.3 million monthly users in the second quarter, up by 44 per cent from a year earlier. Almost a quarter (49.2 million) were in the US, up by 35 per cent year-on-year, while users in the rest of the world were growing faster, up by 47 per cent to 169.1 million. 

The company said a good measure of its ability to monetise the service is the amount of revenue generated from each user viewing a timeline on the site or apps. This rose to $0.80 in ad revenue per 1,000 views in the second quarter, an annual increase of 26 per cent. Around two-thirds of its ad revenue comes from mobile services. 

For the purposes of fixing a fee for the IPO filing, Twitter estimated it will raise $1 billion in the offering. It said it will use the proceeds to help fund general operating costs and an estimated $225 million -$275 million in capital expenditure this year. The listing also aims to create a public market for its stock and open up the public market for future fundraising. The company said it does not intend to start paying dividends.