Will Bogus Bomb Scare Delay a Twitter IPO?

A Twitter IPO is coming, supposedly as early as next year. But will the five-minute market flash-crash the social media giant created on Monday build ill will towards the company on Wall Street?

The easy answer is “no.” Wall Street doesn’t have feelings – money is its only religion. Wall Street traders won’t hold it against Twitter that a fraudulent tweet about a bomb scare at the White House caused stocks to tumble 0.7% in three minutes on Monday.

But what about average investors like you and me? A hacker breaking into the Associated Press account and spewing false news that causes our stocks to nosedive – albeit briefly – doesn’t exactly engender good feelings about Twitter. Investing is enough of a gamble already. Investing in a company that’s vulnerable to getting hacked and causing unneeded chaos feels even less safe.

Twitter execs were surely wary of going public to begin with given Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) disastrous debut last May. This very public gaffe – with Wall Street feeling the brunt of the gaffe, no less – likely gives them additional pause.

I’m sure it won’t dissuade them from going public. Twitter has become too big not to go public – current estimates put the company’s value at around $11 billion.

But the fake bomb scare embarrassment may give Twitter officials another reason to take their time in filing their much-anticipated IPO.