????華爾街與Twitter的蜜月期整整持續(xù)了兩個月零兩天。2013年11月7日，Twitter成功上市。自Facebook令人大跌眼鏡的上市經(jīng)歷之后，這是一次最平穩(wěn)的科技公司IPO。作為路演、股權(quán)分配、定價和上市事務(wù)的負(fù)責(zé)人，該公司首席執(zhí)行官迪克·科斯特洛的表現(xiàn)堪稱完美，被譽(yù)為一流的執(zhí)行者。上市交易第一天，Twitter股價暴漲73%。

????他在Twitter長達(dá)5年的成功任期，在IPO時達(dá)到了頂峰，可以說，是他將Twitter變成了一家值得投資的上市公司。在科斯特洛之前，外界的普遍觀點是，Twitter的成功來得有些莫名其妙。當(dāng)時的Twitter花錢如流水，經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)宕機(jī)，公司毫無秩序，沒有方向，內(nèi)部充滿了創(chuàng)始人的權(quán)力斗爭，管理漏洞百出，就像一艘隨時會漏水的獨木舟。

????科斯特洛曾是一名喜劇演員，后來開始創(chuàng)業(yè)，小有成就。2009年，他成為Twitter首席運營官（次年擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官），開始對公司進(jìn)行整頓。為了阻止信息泄露，他換掉了整個董事會。他親自聘用的亞當(dāng)·貝恩一手打造了Twitter的廣告業(yè)務(wù)部門。在Twitter提交S-1表格申請上市時，其年度收益同比增長198%。2013年，他還被《時代》雜志評為“科技界最具影響力的10位CEO”之一。科斯特洛很受員工擁戴，上周四，Twitter員工紛紛用主題標(biāo)簽#thankyoudickc來表達(dá)對科斯特洛的支持，悲愴之下就好像他并不是辭職，而是已經(jīng)離開人世。

????但在一家市值320億美元的上市公司，科斯特洛很快便從功臣變成了千夫所指的對象。2014年1月9日，早在公司公布第一季度收益報告之前，有3位分析師就調(diào)低了對其股票的評級，Twitter股價由此遭遇了第一次打擊。隨后，Twitter一直處于守勢，股價增長乏力。

????這對Twitter來說是一種明顯的轉(zhuǎn)變。上市之前，作為一家資金充足的私有公司，Twitter利潤不足反而在某種程度上是一件值得慶祝的事情，關(guān)鍵員工的離職也可以被視為“成長的痛苦”。上市后，Twitter命運發(fā)生明顯的轉(zhuǎn)折。對于那些希望以IPO作為完美謝幕的“獨角獸”公司來說，Twitter的遭遇也是一個警示。正如風(fēng)險投資家艾倫·帕提考夫所言，獨角獸公司的估值將不得不是其某個時點收入的若干倍。這也解釋了為何今年上市公司少之又少，不論科技公司還是其他公司；而像Uber這類估值最高的企業(yè)干脆就沒有上市計劃。

????It took Wall Street exactly two months and two days to fall out of love with Twitter. On November 7, 2013, the company had the smoothest tech-industry IPO since Facebook’s faceplant of a public debut, and its chief executive Dick Costolo, who oversaw the flawless road show, share allocation, pricing, and listing, was praised as a champion executor. Twitter stock soared 73% on its first day of trading.

????Twitter’s IPO was the culmination of a successful five-year tenure for Costolo, who can take credit for whipping Twitter into IPO-worthy shape. Before Costolo, the popular narrative goes, any success Twitter had experienced was in spite of itself. The money-bleeding, fail-whaling company was chaotic, lost, rife with founder power grabs, and leakier than a wicker canoe.

????When Costolo, a one-time comedian who’d had modest successes as an entrepreneur, became Twitter’s chief operating officer in 2009 (and the next year, CEO), he shook things up. He replaced the entire board, including prominent investors Fred Wilson and Bijan Sabet, to halt leaks. He oversaw the hiring of Adam Bain, who created Twitter’s entire advertising business. When Twitter filed its Form S-1 to go public, it reported 198% year-on-year revenue growth. Costolo was popular among employees, who on Thursday gushed with support of him on Twitter using the hashtag #thankyoudickc as if he’d died rather than resigned. In 2013, Costolo was named one of Time‘s10 most influential tech CEOs.

????But as a public company with a $32 billion valuation, Costolo’s early credit quickly turned to blame. Twitter’s shares took their first hit on January 9, 2014 after three analysts downgraded the stock prior to the company’s ever first quarterly earnings report. Twitter has been playing defense ever since, and the company’s stock price has languished as a result.

????It’s a stark turnaround from Twitter’s cushy life as a well-funded private company, where a lack of profits is something to celebrate and turnover of key employees could be brushed off as “growing pains.” It’s also a warning sign to any so-called “unicorn” startup that expects its big exit to be an IPO. As venture investor Alan Patricof likes to say, these companies will have to be valued on a multiple of their earnings at some point. It explains why very few companies—tech or otherwise—have gone public this year, and the most valuable ones, like Uber, don’t intend to.