Facebook’s botched initial public offering is coming back to haunt Morgan Stanley.
The investment bank that led CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s glitch-ridden May 18, 2012, IPO finds itself in the uneasy position of an also-ran among a likely long list of underwriters participating in Twitter’s highly anticipated offering.
Goldman Sachs is reportedly leading Twitter’s coming-out party.
Twitter’s decision to select Goldman over Morgan, which lead by Michael Grimes had enjoyed top rankings as a tech underwriter, comes as little surprise after the Facebook IPO.
To be sure, tech-heavy stock exchange Nasdaq also admitted mistakes during Facebook’s listing process and paid a $10 million fine to regulators, but the taint may also cost Nasdaq the listing as well.
Indeed, sources told The Post that Twitter officials explicitly informed bankers pitching to win the lucrative IPO assignment that it wanted to avoid a repeat of Facebook’s offering.
And Morgan Stanley may have paid the price — in smaller fees. Goldman, as lead underwriter, will get the lion’s share of Twitter IPO fees.
Many of the big banks thought they had a claim to a lead role.
Morgan Stanley owns a stake in the firm and Twitter hired tech banker Cynthia Gaylor this summer.
A JPMorgan venture fund purchased a $400 million stake in Twitter two years ago.
Sources told The Post that Morgan Stanley as well as JPMorgan and perhaps Deutche Bank may serve in secondary roles on the offering.