Twitter likely to go public on November 15

The much anticipated initial public offer by microblogging site Twitter is likely to hit the US stock market on November 15, claims a research report.

Twitter has disclosed plans to raise up to $1 billion from its proposed initial public offer (IPO) in its initial registration form (S-1) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

US-based PrivCo, a provider of business and financial research on major privately-held companies, has said an earlier version of Twitter's S-1 form "inadvertently" revealed February 15 as the last date for the lock-up period for employees to sell their restricted stocks.

"The accidental date reveals for the first time that Twitter plans for IPO on November 15, 2013 (counting back 90 days from the February 15 Employee restricted stock units tax Sale 3-month lockup)," it said.

As per US norms, the typical lock-up period for employees to sell restricted stock to cover tax obligations upon receiving such securities is typically 90 days after an IPO, the report said.

"...Twitter's IPO advisors slipped up and inadvertently revealed the end-date for the lock-up period as the fixed date of February 15, 2014 (rather than leaving the date blank as most filings do until right before the final pre-Roadshow S-1 amendment, when the IPO date is announced)," PrivCo said.

Citing sources, PrivCo said the "US Jobs Act regulatory timetable for IPO dates" after Twitter's first non- confidential public S-1 release indicated that as of mid-July, the microblogging site intended to go public three months prior to February 15, 2014".

"This suggests that Twitter has set a November 15 target as its IPO date," PrivCo added.

Twitter says it has a user base of over 218 million average MAUs (monthly active users) in the three months ended June 30, 2013. Its users generate about 500 million tweets every day.

The microblogging site raked in a net revenue of $316.93 million last year against $106.31 million in 2011.

Twitter plans to utilise the proceeds from its IPO for capital expenditure needs, meeting operating expenses, among others.