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Twitter honchos hit $4 billion jackpot in stock's debut

Why are these guys smiling? (L to R) Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.
Why are these guys smiling? (L to R) Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey, along with CEO Dick Costolo, just saw their combined paper wealth soar to about $4 billion as the company's shares popped following its initial public offering.

The stock opened at $26 a share but had soared to more than $45 a share by 11:00 a.m. ET Thursday.

Co-founder Evan Williams, who with 56.9 million shares has the largest count, saw the value of his paper fortune blow past $2.56 billion. That's nearly twice the estimates for his post-IPO wealth even as late as Wednesday night.

Co-founder Jack Dorsey's 23.4 million shares are now valued at $1.06 billion, officially putting him into the billionaire's club.

CEO Dick Costolo told CNBC this morning that the IPO was not about personal wealth. And none of the founders or executives are cashing out, instead putting all the money into the company.

Still, Costolo's paper fortune soared to more than $345 million. Of course, the Twitter trio most likely will see their stock fortunes swing wildly in the coming months. Although all of them probably would say they don't look at their stock wealth while they're trying to change the world 140 characters at a time, I'd guarantee they looked this morning.

Live blog: Twitter's stock debut