Tech

On the Money: Forget IPO, these are Twitter’s top performers

As the Twitter initial public offering hit the tape Thursday, everyone scrambled to find the numbers.

How much was the raise? What price for the shares? When would they come to market?

On the Money put together its own Twitter by-the-numbers, with the help of Dashburst.

Twitter has 500 million users globally, who have generated 170 billion tweets — almost 24 trillion characters, give or take.

China, surprisingly, has the most users, with 35.5 million micro-bloggers.

The list of top three users with the most followers shows that the social media powerhouse is not a Mensa meeting.
justinbieber has 44.4 million bieliebers.

katyperry has 42.6 million, presumably not all of them California Gurls.
ladygaga has 40.1 million fans of bad romance.

For you and me, the average number of followers is a paltry 208.
So to @jack, @biz and @ev, the co-founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams who stepped aside after creating the platform: Congrats.
In crowd
The Carlyle Group’s annual meeting for fund investors this week was proof that private equity still has great influence in Washington and Wall Street.
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein were milling around the Ritz Carlton in DC, a source who was at the Sept. 9 meeting said.
Panels included Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein interviewing Hillary Clinton, who, when asked if she was going to run for president again, said, “I like you, but I’ve said what I’ll say [on the subject].”
The most entertaining panel moment, the source said, was when moderator Judy Woodruff asked Karl Rove if he believed the Iraq pullout was hurting President Obama in trying to gain support for a Syrian strike.
“I think Obama has used that as an excuse for the last four and a half years. That is bull****,” he said, according to the source.
Carlyle declined comment.
-Josh Kosman
Box scores
Boxes have never been so lucrative. Birchbox, a 3-year-old company with 400,000-plus subscribers who pay $10 a month for sample beauty and lifestyle products, shows no signs of slowing.
And its e-commerce business, via which customers buy full-size and full-price products, is surging.
Sales quadrupled last year; Crain’s estimates that revenues were “a little under $40 million.” Full-size products are now more than a quarter of the company’s overall business. A recently launched men’s box at $20 a month is also seeing strong growth.
Birchbox sales are expected to more than triple in 2013.
For New York’s Fashion Week, Birchbox opened its pop-up store in the Meatpacking District — usually reserved for editors and stylists — to the public.
Co-founder Katia Beauchamp says buyers were lined up for hard-to-get beauty products that customers have discovered through its on-site editorial, blog and monthly how-to videos.
Birchbox fans include Olivia Palermo and Rose McGowan.
Selling retail is not in the cards for Birchbox, which has had $12 million in funding to date and is expanding into Europe. It is staying focused on the Internet and is eyeing new markets, including Asia.
-Julie Earle-Levine
Unter-wear
When US shoppers think of German products to covet, cars top the list.
So consumers might be surprised to learn that Germany’s Triumph International holds the title of the world’s largest lingerie company, with $2.1 billion in sales last year.
After conquering 120 countries, Triumph is now seeking a slice of the $11.2 billion American lingerie market, with a little help from Helena Christensen (photo).
On Nov. 1, Triumph will open a pop-up store in New York and kick off US online sales, hawking the supermodel’s collection.
This move follows the August debut of two Triumph stores on Long Island and the purchase of a majority stake in upscale Manhattan lingerie retailer Journelle last December.
More Triumph stores will follow in the tri-state area in 2014, a spokeswoman said. To stand out in a crowded market, the 127-year-old company is banking on its reputation for innovative but comfortable products.
As for the name Triumph: Executives at the family-run lingerie brand — started with six seamstresses at a company called Corsetry Mills of Heubach — found inspiration from Paris’s Arc de Triomphe.
-Catherine Curan