Official news of Twitter's impending stock market floatation had potential investors so excited this week they flocked to buy stock in a bankrupt electronics company with a similar name.
Shares in Boston-based Tweeter Electronics, which sold home and car audio equipment, TVs and other electronics before filing for bankruptcy in 2007, jumped 1,800 per cent on Friday before being halted.
The confusion reportedly arose from similar stock market ticker symbols. Twitter, when it eventually floats will go by the abbreviation TWTR. Tweeter's ticket is TWTRQ.
The result? People thinking they were getting shares in the web's hottest property for $0.004 each. The shares, at the time of writing are now worth $0.105. Party time!
'Extraordinary event'
As trading was halted on Friday afternoon, a post on the Over-the-counter (OTC) trading bulletin board read: "Trading is halted because FINRA has determined that an extraordinary event has occurred or is ongoing that has had a material effect on the market for the OTC Equity Security or the security underlying an OTC ADR or has caused or has the potential to cause major disruption to the marketplace or significant uncertainty in the settlement and clearance process."
Twitter is yet to announce a date for its impending IPO. The company hopes to raise around $1 billion (about £618m, AU$1.06b) on a valuation of $15 billion, but more details will be announced in weeks to come.
One thing is for sure. Twitter's shares won't be up for grabs for a fraction of a penny. And we thought folks who traded on the stock market were supposed to have their wits about them...
