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These Are The People Who Will Be Soaked In Cash After Twitter's IPO

These Are The People Who Will Be Soaked In Cash After Twitter's IPO
Tech2 min read

evan williams

Brad Barket/Getty

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter is preparing to sell 70 million shares to the public in an IPO that will value the company at $10.9 billion. Below is a list of the number of shares owned by some of the people and investment firms that will benefit most from the offering:

Executive officers and directors:

Evan Williams, 56,909,847 shares, or 12 percent. Williams was Twitter's CEO until 2010, when current chief Dick Costolo took the helm. He is now working on a publishing platform, Medium, dedicated to long-form content. Williams will have a 10.4 percent stake after selling shares in the IPO, according to the company's most recent prospectus.

Jack Dorsey, 23,453,017 shares, or 4.9 percent. Dorsey co-founded Twitter and still serves as its chairman. In 2009, he founded payments service Square and serves as its CEO. Dorsey will have a 4.3 percent stake after the IPO.

Dick Costolo, 7,675,239 shares, or 1.6 percent. A onetime improvisational comedian, Costolo took the helm of Twitter in 2010. He joined Twitter as COO the year before, after he and co-founders sold their web feed management provider FeedBurner to Google in 2007. Costolo will have a 1.4 percent stake after the offering.
Adam Bain, 1,785,818 shares, or less than 1 percent. Bain is the president of global revenue at Twitter. He was formerly the president of audience network at News Corp's Fox Interactive Media.

David Rosenblatt, 291,666 shares, or less than 1 percent. Rosenblatt is the CEO of luxury online retailer 1stdibs.com and is a member of Twitter's board of directors.

The following groups own at least 5 percent:

Rizvi Traverse Management and affiliates, 85,171,093 shares, or 17.9 percent. A closely held private-equity fund based in Michigan, Rizvi has made a name for itself by buying stakes in entertainment companies such as Playboy and movie producer Summit Entertainment. Last year, it led a $200 million funding round in Jack Dorsey's payments company, Square. The group will have a 15.6 percent stake in Twitter after the IPO.

Spark Capital and affiliates, 32,414,224 shares, or 6.8 percent. Venture firm Spark started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, Spark partner Bijan Sabet served on Twitter's board. The group will have a 6 percent stake after the IPO.

Benchmark, 31,567,052 shares, or 6.6 percent. Venture firm Benchmark started investing in Twitter in 2009 when it was valued in the $200 million-$250 million range. Benchmark will have a 5.8 percent stake after the IPO.

Union Square Ventures and affiliates, 27,838,992 shares, or 5.9 percent. Venture firm Union Square started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, USV partner Fred Wilson served on Twitter's board. The group will have a 5.1 percent stake after the sale.

DST Global and affiliates, 23,744,745 shares, or 5 percent. The investment firm founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner led a $400 million investment in Twitter in 2011. At the time, Twitter was valued at around $8 billion. The group will have a 4.4 percent stake after the IPO.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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