Twitter’s stock debut is the biggest coming-out party since Facebook, and Wall Street’s largest exchanges are fighting to host it.
The company has yet to announce an exchange, but when its shares go public — most likely before Thanksgiving — Twitter executives could either ring the opening bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange or sign Nasdaq Stock Exchange’s digital screen.
Either way, the initial public offering is much more than a photo op for the winner. Listing Twitter’s shares and overseeing their trading means adding revenue at a time when NYSE and Nasdaq are losing business and struggling to keep up with changes in trading technologies.
Adding Twitter would be another trophy for NYSE as it continues to grab more of Nasdaq’s traditional turf in technology IPOs. Keeping Twitter from NYSE would offer Nasdaq some redemption after its disastrous job hosting Facebook’s IPO in May 2012, which resulted in lawsuits and a marred reputation.
“I’d be shocked if Twitter went to the Nasdaq,” says Kevin Landis, a portfolio manager with Firsthand Funds, who owns shares in Twitter. “The guys at Twitter want to do it as differently from Facebook as they possibly can, and that boils down to even what exchange … to trade on.”
