Twitter Investors Williams to Branson Await IPO Windfall
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Twitter Inc.’s initial share sale is poised to generate riches for its founders and venture investors -- as well as celebrities from Richard Branson to Ashton Kutcher and a host of lesser-known backers who bet early on the microblogging service.
Take Jay Virdy, who left AOL in 2007 to run Summize, a search engine for real-time information. Twitter acquired Summize in July 2008, doling out close to 10 percent of its stock at the time to Virdy, his co-founders and investors, said three people with knowledge of the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the terms weren’t disclosed.