--- description: Shares tumbled 17 percent to a new all-time low on Tuesday, though still above its IPO of $26, as the company's lock-up period expired to give early investors their first opportunity to offload unwanted shares amid worries of slow user growth title: Twitter Shares Tank As Early Investors Get First Chance to Sell 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 # Twitter Shares Tank As Early Investors Get First Chance to Sell by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 6, 2014 4:41 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 6, 2014 4:41 PM CUT _Updated 4:06 p.m. Eastern_ Twitter stock reached a new all-time low today as early investors were allowed to offload their shares for the first time. Twitter shares dove almost 18 percent on the day, closing at $31.85\. The previous low close was $38.75 on Monday. Monday marked the end of the [lock-up period](http://time.com/87887/twitter-lockup-ends/ "undefined") in which early shareholders are not allowed to sell their stock. About 480 million additional shares can now be publicly traded, a huge jump from the 90 million shares of common stock that were available before today. A number of large holders, including founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey, stated publicly that they would not sell any shares when the lock-up period expired. However, the majority of people holding early Twitter shares made no such promises. According to [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/us-twitter-lockup-idUSBREA450IL20140506 "undefined"), Twitter stock is being traded at four times the normal frequency today, with six million shares being traded by midday. Despite beating revenue targets and adding new users, Twitter has faced a [backlash](http://time.com/81672/twitter-first-quarter-earnings/ "undefined") from Wall Street because its user growth is perceived as being too slow. In a conference call with investors last week, CEO Dick Costolo touted the reach Twitter has outside of its registered users, noting that tweets about the Oscars earned 3.3 billion views in the days following the broadcast. So far, Twitter shares have managed to stay above their IPO price of $26. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/89602/twitter-stock-drop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/89602/twitter-stock-drop/"},"headline":"Twitter Shares Tank As Early Investors Get First Chance to Sell","datePublished":"2014-05-06T16:41:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:41:01.247Z","description":"Shares tumbled 17 percent to a new all-time low on Tuesday, though still above its IPO of $26, as the company's lock-up period expired to give early investors their first opportunity to offload unwanted shares amid worries of slow user growth","url":"https://time.com/89602/twitter-stock-drop/","keywords":["Companies","Social Media","twitter","stock"],"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/89602/twitter-stock-drop/","name":"Twitter Shares Tank As Early Investors Get First Chance to Sell"}}]}] ```