Twitter, Do Not Go Public
In our sixth class, we discussed Facebook’s IPO fiasco. This led me to research the topic of IPOs and I found an article that discussed the idea of Twitter potentially meeting Facebook’s dreadful fate. The issue, however, should not be how to successfully execute Twitter’s IPO, but rather whether or not they should have an IPO at all.
A 21st century technology company like Twitter has no business in the present day stock market. Wall Street is crawling with old guys who cannot understand why someone would tweet every insignificant event in his/her life. This investor lacks knowledge in the industry and is in turn, nervous and more likely to make harsh criticisms and rashly sell stock out of fear.
Furthermore, pressure from investors may push Twitter to cheaply create new products or concepts to meet financial expectations. Companies like Apple have astutely developed a product release schedule that works in accordance with their quarterly reports, but this strategy is not applicable to companies in the social media industry. Naturally, this industry thrives from and necessitates creativity and inventiveness and cannot be restricted and quantified by a bunch of left-brained suits.
Mr. Dick Costolo, do not go public.
