Twitter IPO Price Pegs Value at $12.5B

Twitter has set a price range of $17 to $20 per share for its much-anticipated initial public offering and says it could raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process. In a regulatory filing today, Twitter said it is putting forth 70 million shares in the offering. If all are sold, the underwriters can buy another 10.5 million shares. At the $20 share price, Twitter's market value is around $12.5 billion. Twitter's valuation is relatively conservative—some analysts had expected it to be as high as $20 billion.

The caution shows that Twitter learned from Facebook's rocky initial public offering last year. Rather than set expectations too high, Twitter is playing it safe and will likely raise its price range closer to the IPO, and thus fuel demand. The company plans to list its stock under the ticker symbol TWTR on the New York Stock Exchange, and shares will likely start trading in the next few weeks. (More Twitter stories.)