Posted January 26, 2013 by Alexander Cooke in World

Twitter believed to be valued at $9 Billion as BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) purchases Shares

Northern, WI 1/26/2013 (avauncer) - The value of Twitter Inc. was declared at around $9 billion after initial employees sold shares worth $80 million to a fund administered by BlackRock Inc. (INYSE:BLK). The people handling the sales included Twitter CEO Ali Rowghani. However no details of these sales were given.

Twitter is aiding its initial shareholders accrue a portion of the worth of their shares while permitting specific investors buy equity in this Internet company, with a rapid growth. This is a part of the company’s plans before it goes public. Its deal with the biggest fund manager Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) represents the hike in the site’s value from 2011, when it was worth $8 billion.

BlackRock’s (NYSE:BLK) spokesman Farrell Denby, refused to say anything , as also Gabriel Stricker, Twitter’s spokesman.

Rowghani, has played an active part in locating purchasers for shares. The aim of doing this is to reduce pressure on the valuation of Twitter, which could lead to employees disposing off a big chunk of stock, once the post IPO “lockups” on their holdings are done away with. A stringent check on the owners of stock will also help restrict the quantum of inside information given out before the launch of IPO.

The active participation of Twitter in private sales of share sales marks a departure from the lax selling of shares of Facebook Inc. (NYSE:FB) that occurred before its IPO. In case of Twitter, Rowghani and his group have rejected numerous prospective buyers and restricted access to the company’s financial data to a specific number of investors.

Twitter has planned to restrict private sales of shares even earlier. The firm had told its stockholders not to sell its shares on web exchanges, in 2011. It spent 50% of $800 million that it got from investment from DST to buyback shares from investors and employees. While the company is still silent about its plans for going public, Rowghani’s promotion could be regarded as a herald for IPO filing.

The shares of Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) went up by 0.04% to close at $236.42

NYSE:BLK

Alexander Cooke

Alexander Cooke has over 8 years experience in Automobile, marketing, PR, advertising, sales, promotions and special events planning. His writing for print includes work for a Gannett paper and a personal experience piece for Newsweek. Since 2008 he has concentrated on automotive articles for the on-line market and produced numerous pieces for the High Gear Media site Allcaradvice.com. That work was moved to the media company’s flagship site Thecarconnection.com where it can be viewed.