Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares will reach the lockup expiration period on May 5, but management is looking forward to hold the shares in their portfolio. Management as Twitter is confident in the company and its share and has decided to hold the stock after the expiration of lockup period.
Many investors are selling the shares as the expiration period approaches, but management is not concerned with this.
Twitter top management not selling
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Dick Costolo said in a filing with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, informed that he will not unload his shares after the lock-up expires next month. Similarly, co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey have no plans to sell their shares. Moreover, Benchmark capital will also not sell its shares.
The SEC filing states that the management of Twitter should sell the shares as per the pre decided trading plans. They must sell their shares during an “open trading window” and have a “cooling off period,” which implies that the co-founders will to be able to sell their share until 90 days after the next option window.
Benchmark Capital, also, will not sell the shares of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) to limited partners either before or right after the lockup ends. In a filing, it is mentioned that Dorsey, Williams and Costolo along with the Benchmark capital have 20% of the Twitter shares.
Lockup fears already reflecting in share price
Lockup period is in place to restrict the company’s biggest shareholder from selling off their stocks in massive quantities immediately after initial public offering (IPO). Once the lockup period is expired for Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), anyone holding its share can sell. There may be some selling off after the expiration, but the top management of the company will hold the stock.
The micro-blogging company will post its first quarter 2014 earnings on April 29, which is one week before the lockup expires. According to a report from TechCrunch, the earnings might be positive.
A report from the Wall Street Journal concludes that shares of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) dropped in value by around 36% this year to date, indicating the impact of the expiration is already reflected in the stock price.
Facebook shares surged 42% during the month after its lock-up period expired on November 14, 2012, though the investors were largely bearish before the expiration.
