Twitter (TWTR, Financial) went public November 7, 2013 at $26 per share. On the first day of trading, Twitter Common closed at $45.90.There are obvious benefits to being an early IPO investor, assuming you can get a position size large enough to make a difference to a portfolio's over all return. Even these investors, however, achieved returns orders of magnitude lower than those obtained by Twitter's early investors and its most senior employees. The prospectus discloses, inter alia that 42,708,824 options on common shares, exercisable at an average price of $1.84 per share, were outstanding on June 30, 2013. On occasion, Third Avenue's funds can attempt to recreate this type of scenario by participating in a capital raise or refinancing (see the Third Avenue Real Estate Fund's investment in Trinity Place Holdings, discussed in that team's fourth quarter 2013 letter) but mostly we seek to create the possibility of achieving outsized returns by purchasing undervalued securities in the open market.
From Martin Whitman's Third Avenue Management fourth quarter 2013 investor letter.Â
From Martin Whitman's Third Avenue Management fourth quarter 2013 investor letter.Â
