Twitter to raise at least $1.8b

The Twitter bird logo is on an updated phone post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Nov 6, 2013. [Photo/icpress.cn]

Facebook had increased both the number of shares and the price range just before its public debut, which contributed to a sustained decline in its share price. The shares took more than a year to recover to the $38 IPO price.

"Twitter did a good job putting together its message," said Tom Taulli, an independent IPO expert. "It wasn't about distractions, it was about having a great property and brand and a focus on the business...that wasn't necessarily the message when Facebook came out."

The high level of interest stoked by Twitter's road show spurred speculation in recent days that its bankers could raise the price again significantly higher than $25, but they ultimately did not.

"I'm glad they didn't take it up higher, as speculated," said Suntrust Robinson Humphries analyst Robert Peck. "It still provides enough upside for investors and provides a nice contrast to Facebook."

Despite Twitter's successful IPO, some analysts have expressed concerns that Twitter's valuation is dependent on sustained user growth and a maturing advertising business - two factors that may never be realized.

Although the company has close to a quarter-billion-users, it lacks the ubiquity of Facebook or the "stickiness" factor that keeps people checking the No. 1 social network on a daily basis. A Reuters-Ipsos poll last month showed that 36 percent of people who signed up for a Twitter account say they do not use it.

Twitter, which has extensively courted large brand marketers, still generates relatively little revenue per user compared with Facebook, while the majority of its users are located outside the US in countries such as Indonesia or Brazil, which are less lucrative digital advertising markets.

During its road show over the past week, Twitter executives had assured investors that they plan to wring more money out of its international user base and smaller businesses by expanding its self-serve advertising products and opening offices abroad.

But analysts say the company could encounter a slew of regulatory and policy hurdles in foreign countries as it expands.

Twitter said last month that its third-quarter revenue more than doubled to $168.6 million, but net losses widened to $64.6 million from $21.6 million a year earlier as costs ballooned.

Aside from aggressively growing its overseas sales presence, Twitter's expenditures will likely continue to rise.

Twitter disclosed Monday that it had received a letter from International Business Machines Corp accusing the social media company of infringing on at least three US patents. Twitter's well-known intellectual property vulnerabilities could force the company to invest heavily in expanding its patent portfolio, similar to what Facebook has done since going public.

Twitter is set to trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker TWTR.