When the New York Stock Exchange opened for trading Thursday morning, Twitter shares quickly went from an initial asking price of $26 to $45.10 a share.
According to BBC News, the share price rose 73 percent. Over 13 million Twitter shares were traded. That's a strong start for a company that has yet to make a profit. Tech stock is often unstable and where Twitter's ends up is anyone's guess.
The social media company put up 70 million shares, as Twitter looked to raise more than $1.82 billion. Evan Williams, co-founder, holds a 10 percent stake in the company, and with the current trading, it makes his stake worth over $1 billion. Another co-founder Jack Dorsey holds a 4 percent stake.
USA Today reports the shares have risen as high as $50.09, but have stayed around the $45 it opened at.
Tech shares have been up on the year, with Facebook and LinkedIn stock up 80 percent for 2013. "We're entering a pretty extended period of optimism," Rick Summer, a Morningstar equity analyst, said. "There is a lot of downside risk at these levels," he slipped in.
Part of the increase in share price was a result of the stock being over-subscribed before it even started trading, meaning that many investors had to wait for others to trade before getting in on the action.
As Twitter was preparing for its initial public offering, the company decided to be modest and cautious with its worth and share price. The company originally valued itself at $10.9 billion and that shares would be sold at around $20 per share.
image: Twitter's Official Page