Twitter IPO rumour-gasm latest: Sugar daddies told to not flog shares just yet

WHAT COULD IT ALL MEAN?

Twitter's bankers have already been making calls to early investors in the website's fast-approaching IPO, asking them to sign a 180-day lock-up agreement by this afternoon.

An email from lead underwriter Goldman Sachs, seen by Reuters, has asked existing backers to sign and return the form, which will forbid them from selling any of their shares until six months after the firm debuts on the stock market.

It's rumoured that Twitter will make its IPO plans public this week. The microblogging network has already filed confidential paperwork with regulators to declare that a public offering is on the way, but hasn't released any other details. Analysts reckon the firm's IPO could value it at up to $15bn.

Lock-up agreements stop existing shareholders from selling their bundles of stock as soon as the company goes public, since they could flood the market with heaps of extra stock and send share prices plummeting. ®