Twitter announced on Thursday that it is beginning the process for an initial public offering (IPO).
“We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the [Security and Exchange Committee] for a planned IPO,” said the company on its own official Twitter account.
An S-1, or Form S-1, is what public companies use to file basic business and financial information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“This tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale,” said Twitter.
The popular microblogging service has become an indispensable platform for stars, politicians and journalists since its inception, but questions over the company’s revenue-generating capabilities have lingered for just as long.
On Mar. 28, independent market research company eMarketer raised its 2014 forecast for Twitter’s advertising revenue to reach $1 billion.
Twitter’s long-anticipated announcement on Thursday was retweeted — or shared with other Twitter users — over 7,620 times within an hour of the 5 p.m. announcement.