Twitter has poached J.J. Hirschle, director of media and entertainment at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to head its retail division in a bid to earn higher revenues and exhibit its revenue generating capacity ahead of its IPO. Last year the San Francisco-based micro-blogging site also poached Shailesh Rao, who was the head of Google’s display advertising sales in Asia.
Twitter on hiring spree
Twitter has been on a hiring spree to raise its workforce and lift its business profile quickly. According to its recent filing, the company employed 300 more employees in the third quarter totaling to 2,300.Twitter is also about to lease a 320,000 square foot office space next to its San Francisco headquarters, according to sources.
A spokesman at Twitter told Bloomberg that Hirschle will join Twitter and will “be responsible for the team selling advertising products to retail companies.” As per the report, Hirschle will join the company on October 28th.
Hirschle has been working with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) since August 2004. He joined the search engine giant as a senior account executive, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Twitter doubling revenue
Ahead of its IPO, Twitter posted an increase in its revenue of almost double. Revenue earned by the company for the third quarter was $168.6 million, an increase of over $82.3 million compared to the same quarter in 2012. For the third quarter, the micro-blogging site claims a monthly active user base of 230 million, in its revised regulatory filing submitted Tuesday.
According to Robert Peck, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, shares will have tremendous upside potential for a few days after the launch. He assigned a Buy rating to the shares, yet to be listed. However, he added that Twitter needs to upgrade its infrastructure to make the growth story longer.
IPO news, rumors
The site with celebrity accounts worldwide has decided to list its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, breaking the usual trend that tech companies sign up on NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ).
In October, Twitter officially stated that it is prepping to go public and is hoping to raise $1 billion. The IPO release date could be November 15th, according to rumors, and the ticker symbol apparently will be TWTR. The company is expected to enter a roadshow with its advising bankers most probably by the end of October.
