--- description: Twitter’s quickly falling stock may face even more downward pressure Tuesday when about 470 million shares are eligible to enter the open market for the... title: Twitter Stock Lockup Ends, Could Drive Share Price Lower image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d2f2a37f4fa17c/69868ab9e53aba59ac4d20e7/187243543.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Twitter's Next Enormous Headache by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2014 3:20 PM CUT  LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 07: In this photo illustration, The Twitter logo is displayed on a mobile device as the company announced it's initial public offering and debut on the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013 in London, England. Twitter went public on the NYSE opening at USD 26 per share, valuing the company's worth at an estimated USD 18 billion. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 07: In this photo illustration, The Twitter logo is displayed on a mobile device as the company announced it's initial public offering and debut on the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013 in London, England. Twitter went public on the NYSE opening at USD 26 per share, valuing the company's worth at an estimated USD 18 billion. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 5, 2014 3:20 PM CUT Twitter’s quickly falling stock may face even more downward pressure Tuesday when about 470 million shares are eligible to enter the open market for the first time. Today marks the end of the lock-up period in which early investors, executives and other Twitter insiders are barred from offloading their stock. Less than 20 percent of Twitter’s total stock has been publicly traded to this point. The company has taken measures to ensure that the flood of shares doesn’t decimate its stock price. In an April SEC filing, Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey, along with CEO Dick Costolo, said they would not sell their shares after the lock-up ends. Between them they own 87.6 million shares. Venture firm Benchmark Capital, which owns more than 31 million shares, has also agreed not to sell. In total, people who own about 205 million of the locked up shares have said they will hold onto them, according to [_Bloomberg_](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-05/twitter-insiders-set-to-hold-stock-even-as-lockup-expires.html "undefined"). Still, that leaves more than 260 million shares potentially entering the stock market Tuesday, at a time when investors are decidedly cool on the social network. After a highly successful November IPO and an initial two-month rally that sent the company’s stock above $70, Twitter shares have fallen back to Earth in 2014 as investors fret over the social network’s [user growth](http://time.com/81672/twitter-first-quarter-earnings/ "undefined") and engagement rates that are declining by some metrics. The stock closed at a record low last Wednesday and was trading around $39 as of 11 a.m. Monday. Past lock-up expirations have not been kind to tech companies. Facebook, which also struggled post-IPO, saw its shares hit an [all-time low](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-hits-low-ipo-lock-143200785.html "undefined") when the company insiders got their first chance to sell in August 2012. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/87887/twitter-lockup-ends/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/87887/twitter-lockup-ends/"},"headline":"Here's Twitter's Next Enormous Headache","datePublished":"2014-05-05T15:20:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:09.337Z","description":"Twitter’s quickly falling stock may face even more downward pressure Tuesday when about 470 million shares are eligible to enter the open market for the...","url":"https://time.com/87887/twitter-lockup-ends/","keywords":["Companies","Tech","Social Media","Technology","twitter","social networks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d2f2a37f4fa17c/69868ab9e53aba59ac4d20e7/187243543.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d2f2a37f4fa17c/69868ab9e53aba59ac4d20e7/187243543.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Social Media Site Twitter Debuts On The New York Stock Exchange","caption":"Social Media Site Twitter Debuts On The New York Stock Exchange","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/87887/twitter-lockup-ends/","name":"Here's Twitter's Next Enormous Headache"}}]}] ```