Twitter takes a tumble: shares fall below IPO price, close at record low
Shares of Twitter, which have been tumbling down a slippery slope for the past few weeks, fell below the company's initial public offering price of $26 Thursday afternoon and closed the trading day at a new record low.
On a volatile day of trading for Wall Street, Twitter fell down nearly 6% during regular trading hours, and hit a record low of $25.98 at about 2:30 p.m. ET. The company closed the trading day down 5.83% at exactly its November 2013 IPO price of $26.
Twitter has taken quite a steep fall from its heydays.
The company went public in November 2013, and hit a first day closing price of $44.90. Within a month, the social networking site hit a record high of $73.71 in December 2013.
Twitter's dramatic stock drop came a few weeks ago after the company reported lackluster second-quarter earnings, which included the slowest user growth rate since the company went public.
In the second-quarter, the company said it had 304 million core users, indicating virtually stagnant growth from the 302 million it reported in the first quarter. These user numbers also compare to its major rival, Facebook, which boasts nearly 1.5 billion users.
To add fuel to the flame during the disastrous earnings report, interim CEO Jack Dorsey and Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto rattled investors by saying that a turnaround would take "considerable" time for the company.
As Wall Street's expectations for the struggling company continued to deflate, so has its stock. Shares briefly rebounded last week after Dorsey showed a bid of confidence in the company and bought more than 31,000 shares of Twitter, but the stock has otherwise spent the majority of the past few weeks hovering dangerously close to $26.
Before company shares finally breached $26 Thursday, its previous low was clocked earlier this month at $27.54.
Twitter is in the midst of a search for a new CEO. Dick Costolo stepped down on July 1 under growing pressure from Wall Street.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Trisha Thadani on Twitter: @TrishaThadani