Shares of Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) fell more than 10% in early trading on Tuesday after the expiration of a six-month "lockup" period for early investors that had restricted the sale of about 82% of the company's equity.
The shares hit a low of $34.68 U.S. on the New York Stock Exchange, the first time they have fallen below $37 U.S. since the shares started trading on November 7. Their all-time peak was reached late last December at $74.73 U.S.
Twitter's IPO was priced at $26 U.S. per share.
The reaction to Twitter's lockup expiry was in sharp contrast to that of Facebook Inc in late 2012.
Facebook shares jumped 13% on November 14, 2012 when its lockup expiry of roughly 800 million shares did not trigger an immediate wave of insider selling.
Twitter's lockup involves about 470 million shares.
Tuesday's selling placed even greater pressure on the stock, which has been trading at an all-time low since April 29 when Twitter disclosed sagging usage metrics.
Twitter has comfortably hit its revenue targets in the two quarters since it went public.
But rapidly mounting concerns about user growth and engagement levels have wiped out about half of the company's market value - or about $18 billion U.S. - since late December.
