Twitter

Launched in 2006 Twitter is a leading social network site and microblogging platform that, according to its last released figures, has 200m users worldwide. Currently earning 65% of its revenue through advertising, the company expects to earn $600m in 2013, up from $317m in 2012. In September 2013 the company announced that it had applied to become listed company and aimed to raise $1bn, which would make it the year’s largest Silicon Valley floatation.

After tweeting “We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.” Twitter entered a new era.

Twitter’s plans to raise $1bn from the listing reflect the rapid growth and increased popularity of the site since its launch in 2006. In 2010 the company reported annual revenue of $28m before experiencing an over 1,000% rise to $317m in 2012.

The company, which has yet to make a profit and currently raises more than 65% of its revenue from advertising, faces the challenge of turning its estimated 250m users into profit for shareholders. Twitter has reported that it has brought in $168.6m during the third quarter of 2013, double that of the same period in 2012, but rival Facebook is expected to announce $1.9bn in revenue during the same quarter.

A further challenge facing Twitter is user retention and usage. In a recent poll for Reuters conducted by Ipsos found that 36% of people with accounts have stopped using the platform, with a further 7% of previous users saying that they had deleted their accounts. This compares to 7% of Facebook users who have stopped using the site and 5% of those polled having deleted their profiles.

Following last year’s disastrous launch of Facebook on the NASDAQ , after which the exchange had to pay a $10m fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, brokerages will be allowed to test their systems for Twitter’s launch on October 26 before its anticipated full launch in November.