Who will get rich from Twitter's IPO?

NDTV Profit Desk

04 Oct 2013, 08:02 AM IST

Just about everyone in Silicon Valley has dreamed of striking it rich with a well-timed investment. Here is a list of the number of shares owned by some of the people and investment firms that will benefit the most from Twitter's initial public offering:

Executive officers and directors:

Evan Williams 56,909,847 shares, or 12 per cent. Williams was Twitter's CEO until 2010, when current CEO Dick Costolo took the helm. He is now working on a publishing platform, Medium, which is dedicated to long-form content.

Benchmark 31,568,740 shares, or 6.7 per cent. Venture firm Benchmark started investing in Twitter in 2009 when it was valued in the $200 million-$250 million range. This stake includes shares owned by partner Peter Fenton, who led the firm's investment in consumer-Internet play Yelp, holds a board seat at Twitter.

Jack Dorsey 23,411,350 shares, or 4.9 per cent. Dorsey co-founded Twitter and still serves as its chairman. In 2009, he founded payments service Square and serves as its CEO.

Dick Costolo 7,589,608 shares, or 1.6 per cent. A onetime improvisational comedian, Costolo took the helm of Twitter in 2010. He joined Twitter as COO the year before, after he and co-founders sold their web feed management provider FeedBurner to Google in 2007.

Adam Bain, 1,722,350 shares, or less than 1 per cent. Bain is the president of global revenue at Twitter. He was formerly the president of audience network at News Corp's Fox Interactive Media.

David Rosenblatt, 283,333 shares, or less than 1 per cent. Rosenblatt is the CEO of luxury online retailer 1stdibs.com and is a member of Twitter's board of directors.

The following groups own at least 5 per cent:

Rizvi Traverse Management. A closely held private-equity fund based in Michigan, Rizvi has made a name for itself by buying stakes in entertainment companies such as Playboy and movie producer Summit Entertainment. Last year, it led a $200 million funding round in Jack Dorsey's payments company, Square.

Spark Capital. Venture firm Spark started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, Spark partner Bijan Sabet served on Twitter's board.

Union Square Ventures. Venture firm Union Square started investing in Twitter in 2008. For a time, USV partner Fred Wilson served on Twitter's board.

DST Global. The investment firm founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner led a $400 million investment in Twitter in 2011. At the time, Twitter was valued at around $8 billion.