Top social media IPOs: Reddit made a strong debut on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares closing 48 per cent higher on their first day of trading. The successful listing of the social media major has reignited the discussion around the profitability and the stocks of social media companies that went public in the last decade. 

Today, when social media businesses are facing global scrutiny, focusing more on user-centric upgrades, and aligning their operations to incorporate Artificial Intelligence models, their stock performance is back in focus. In this report, we share some of the biggest social media IPOs that the stock markets have seen and analyse their post-IPO performances. 

Meta 

Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) is one of the most successful social media IPOs in the past 15 years. Debuting in May 2012 at $38 per share, the company has seen strong growth since then. 

All-time stock performance of Meta | Image credit: TradingView

Currently, META shares trade at around $507 each, representing a remarkable increase of 1,107 per cent. This surge implies that an initial investment of $10,000 in Meta's IPO would now exceed $120,000.

Twitter

On November 7, 2013, Twitter initiated its IPO on the NYSE under the ticker symbol TWTR. Co-founders Dorsey, Williams, and Costolo collectively saw their wealth soar to $4 billion when the IPO priced at $26 reached $45.10 on the first day. 

Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 | Image credit: Republic

The stock swiftly surged to $50.09 before closing at $44.90, taking Twitter's market worth at $24 billion. However, the company's stock was delisted from the exchange on November 8, 2022, after Elon Musk completed the company’s takeover. After taking over the microblogging giant, Elon Musk has introduced major updates to the platforms with attempts to monetise the ‘Blue tick’ and developers’ API with new subscription plans. 

Pinterest 

Pinterest went public on April 18, 2019, offering 75 million shares in its initial public offering (IPO). The company experienced a notable surge in its stock price on the first day of trading, with Pinterest shares rising by more than 28 per cent. The company raised $1.43 billion in its IPO after pricing the offering at $19 a share. 

All-time stock performance of Pinterest | Image credit: TradingView

Founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann, a former Google employee, and Evan Sharp, who was previously a designer at Facebook, Pinterest has grown to 265 million monthly users. The current price of the Pinterest stock hovers above $34.33 apiece. 

LinkedIn 

LinkedIn, which was later acquired by Microsoft, entered the public market on May 19, 2011. The professional networking platform offered 7.84 million shares in its IPO, raising $352.8 million in the process. 

Under the ticker symbol "LNKD" on the New York Stock Exchange, LinkedIn’s shares were listed at the base price of $45 per share.  

All-time stock performance of LinkedIn | Image credit: Investing.com

The company's stock experienced a remarkable first day, soaring by up to 171 per cent and closing at $94.25, marking a notable 109 per cent increase over its IPO price. Following its IPO, LinkedIn swiftly revamped its underlying infrastructure to facilitate faster revision-release cycles. 

Bumble

Bumble, the dating app known for its unique approach to online matchmaking, conducted its IPO on February 11, 2021. With an offering of 50 million shares, Bumble raised an impressive $2.15 billion in its initial public offering with its shares surging close to $63.5 per cent on the first day of trading on Nasdaq. 

All-time stock performance of Bumble | Image credit: Investing.com 

The company’s stock began trading up nearly 77 per cent at $76 per share under the ticker symbol “BMBL” with a price of $43 apiece, above its target range of $37 to $39. 

However, the price of Bumble has seen a consistent decline in the last 3 years with the stock currently priced at $10.79 which marks an over 85 per cent decline in the share price. 

Match Group

Matching the success of Meta’s IPO, Match Group, the parent company of popular dating platforms such as Match.com and Tinder, has generated more than 1,100 per cent gains to its investors to date. The company made its stock market debut on November 19, 2015, offering 33.3 million shares in its IPO. 

All-time stock performance of Match Group | Image credit: TradingView

Match Group raised $400 million in capital and recorded a 23 per cent rise on its first day of trading, indicating a positive reception from investors. The shares of the Match Group are currently trading at $35.69.