Twitter announces IPO pricing of $26 per share with a valuation of $18.3 billion

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it will price its IPO at $26 per share when it begins trading on Thursday. The company plans to sell 70 million shares out of a total of 545 million outstanding shares.

We just priced our IPO. pic.twitter.com/NWXaO4Myq0

— Twitter (@twitter) November 6, 2013

The firm will raise $1.82 billion from the offering, with a fully-diluted valuation of $18.3 billion. The dilution accounts for outstanding restricted stock units and options for employees, which would put Twitter’s total shares at 705 million. Using the 545 million share figure, Twitter would be valued at $14.16 billion.

The company revealed in September that it had filed for the offering. It publicly released its S-1 form in early October.

Twitter will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday to celebrate the listing. It will trade under the TWTR symbol.

Estimates for the initial share price have moved up in the run-up to the IPO. The company pegged a price of $17-20 in late October before increasing the range to $23-25. Recent reports had suggested the price could go as high as $25-28.

By way of comparison, Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share with a valuation of $104 billion last year. It raised $16 billion in the offering, almost as much as Twitter’s overall valuation. LinkedIn went public in 2011 at $45 per share with a valuation of $4.25 billion.