The New York Stock Exchange scored a big win against Nasdaq in securing the Twitter IPO. Some wondered whether Twitter would encounter early issues similar to Facebook's IPO, but the initial offering went off without a hitch.
The inside of the stock exchange was decked out with Twitter logos.
Twitter set a final price Wednesday night of $26 for the IPO, but the opening trade ended up being much higher than that.
Dick Costolo, Twitter's CEO, showed up on the floor of the stock exchange about 15 minutes before the opening bell. He was accompanied by a few other familiar faces, including founders Ev Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey.
In a symbolic move, Twitter opted to have three users -- Boston Police rep Cheryl Fiandaca, 8-year old activist Vivienne Harr and, of course, actor Patrick Stewart -- ring the bell rather than the founders or executive team.
Fittingly, the moment was commemorated with a simple tweet: #Ring.
Biz Stone (center) and the other two founders huddled together with the CEO and waited. Stone and Williams occasionally chatted with each other while Dorsey took some pictures of the exchange and talked to others around him.
After the opening bell was rung at 9:30, the real action started. Bankers and traders went back and forth to negotiate an opening price for the stock while employees and reporters looked on. This process took longer for Twitter's IPO than any other in the Nasdaq's history.
After a little more than an hour, traders finally settled on an opening price for the stock: $45.10, a 73% increase from its IPO price.
Despite their differences over the years, the three founders gathered together to celebrate Twitter's next stage as a public company. The group then left a few minutes later and paid a visit to Twitter's New York offices to greet employees.
Shortly before 11 a.m. ET, Twitter's first trade as a public company was processed at $45.10 a share. The stock quickly jumped up towards the $50 mark, then fell back down to $45, then started rising again. And with that, Twitter's evolution from "twttr" to $TWTR was complete.
The road to the IPO day started with the germ of an idea more than eight years ago, an official launch seven years ago, a prolonged period of rapid growth and turnovers at the top of the company. Twitter revealed in September that it had secretly filed to go public, confirming months of rumors that an IPO was coming, and eventually priced its initial offering at $26.
See also: Twitter's Secret Weapon for IPO: Facebook
Mashable was at the New York Stock Exchange and captured the leadup to and moments immediately after Twitter officially became a public company — check it out in the gallery above.
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