According to statements from Twitter (News - Alert), its IPO filing is ready. The company says it will make the filings public this week. Twitter's goal is to start trading by Thanksgiving, most likely on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to an exclusive story on Quartz, a source says that Twitter’s filing could be delayed by a variety of factors, including changes to the prospectus to market conditions and the recent government shutdown.

Quartz says that Twitter got things started on Sept. 12 when it tweeted, "Confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC (News - Alert) for a planned IPO." Twitter had actually made that submission back in July. Its recent announcement was not required, but a source told Quartz that it wanted to get ahead of any press leaks. The company wants to avoid a frenzy. 

Form S-1 is usually filed publicly, and then government regulators provide feedback in public. A new law called JOBS Act, however, allowed Twitter to submit its S-1 draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in private because the company’s annual revenue is under $1 billion. 

The new law that allows companies the option to file confidentially was intended to help startups decide whether they want to raise more capital, sell to another company or go public.

When Twitter goes public with its S-1, it must also disclose any previous drafts of the documents it submitted to the SEC. Twitter's official filing is expected at any time now.

Twitter's filing may reveal other information too, including if it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as how much Twitter intends to raise in the IPO and how much each share will cost.

Currently Twitter’s IPO price is thought to be in the range of $28 to $30 a share. If those numbers are correct, that would put the company’s value in the $15 to $16 billion range. 

Quartz writes, "Twitter will also make official which banks are facilitating the offering. Goldman Sachs is known to have secured the “lead left” position, which means it will collect more fees than the other lead banks, which are JP Morgan (News - Alert) Chase and Morgan Stanley. That part is really a battle for bragging rights that few outside of Wall Street care about."

Twitter is an Internet service so it will most likely discuss how many monthly active users that it has and its daily active users. It is expected that Twitter will break down a lot of its data by region.

Once Twitter goes public we will also discover exactly who owns Twitter. Ev Williams is listed as the company co-founder. Williams was recently reported to be Twitter's largest shareholder with a 15 percent stake. The IPO filing should reveal who else sits at the reigns. Twitter is required to disclose the stakes of anyone who owns more than 5 percent of the company as well as any member of its board and certain top executives.

Once Twitter files its S-1, it has to wait at least three weeks before it can market itself to potential big money investors.