Twitter co-founder Evan Williams added more than US$1 billion to his personal fortune, according to a Wealth-X estimate, after the company’s frenzied trading debut at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
With nearly 57 million shares, Williams one-day gain was US$1.075 billion, which increased his net worth to US$2.5 billion. Other big gainers include co-founder Jack Dorsey, who made close to half a billion dollars, increasing his net worth to over US$2 billion, and CEO Dick Costolo, who became richer by around US$145 million, bringing his net worth to approximately US$370 million.
Twitter’s stock closed its first trading day at $44.90 a share from the initial public offering price of $26 set late on Wednesday, falling back from a near-doubling in price at a session high of $50.
| Name of Beneficial Owner | Number of Shares | Value of Twitter Stake at IPO Price ($26) | Value of Twitter Stake at First Day Closing Price ($44.90) | One Day Gain |
| Richard Costolo | 7.7 | US$200 million | US$345 million | US$145 million |
| Jack Dorsey | 23.5 | US$610 million | US$1.05 billion | US$443 million |
| Evan Williams | 56.9 | US$1.48 billion | US$2.55 billion | US$1.075 billion |
(Number of shares as revealed in Twitter’s latest S1 filing)
A San Francisco-based online social networking company with 250 million users globally, Twitter revealed plans for a billion-dollar public offering in early October, giving potential investors their first glance at its financials and the largest shareholders behind one of the most-anticipated stock debuts of the year.
Wealth-X President David Friedman said: “The markets’ response to Twitter’s valuation shows that it truly has become the interest graph. Twitter’s IPO, combined with the increase in Facebook’s valuation, illustrates social media’s ability to harness advertising revenue as it continues to gain strength.”
Twitter chose TWTR as its ticker symbol and chose to trade on the NYSE over tech-focused Nasdaq.
About Wealth-X
Wealth-X is the definitive source of intelligence on the ultra wealthy with the world’s largest collection of curated research on ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals, defined as those with net assets of US$30 million and above. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 12 offices in five continents. (www.wealthx.com)