Social media
company Twitter tweeted Thursday that it is taking steps towards going public.
"We've confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO,"
the company said on its @twitter account, adding "This Tweet does not
constitute an offer of any securities for sale."
Twitter has been looking to build its advertising business in part by
aligning itself more closely with TV watching and TV ad targeting. It
recently announced a partnership with Viacom to create social video advertising
campaigns that launched with the Video Music Awards on MTV. Earlier this year,
it acquired Bluefin Labs, a company that analyzes social media use.
Earlier this week, Twitter said it bought MoPub, a company that manages
mobile ad inventory for $350 million in stock.
The S-1 is a confidential document that regulators at the SEC review for issues
before a company takes further steps towards an initial public offering of
stock.
It was unclear how much money Twitter would seek to raise in its offering.
Silicon Valley website Tech Crunch estimated that Twitter might be valued
at between $15 billion and $20 billion. That would be well short of the
$100 billion Facebook was worth when it went public.
