On Friday morning, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, CEO, and majority shareholder, rang the Nasdaq opening bell and made history with one of the largest IPOs in years. It was exactly the kind of mania that made the dotcom era a profoundly silly time – irrational exuberance all the way to the bank in an era that became known more for the greed, ridiculousness, and excess than it did from the occasionally groundbreaking work that was changing how people did business at the dawn of the modern internet era.

Except, on Friday, the mania didn’t show up on schedule.  Read more...

18 May 2012
Last updated at 16:49 ET

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Mark Zuckerberg rings the Nasdaq bell as Facebook shares go on sale

Facebook shares ended their first day of trading at $38.23, barely above the company’s initial pricing of $38.

Shares in the social network rose more than 10% to $42 within minutes of trade beginning, before quickly falling back.

Later gains were wiped out too at the end of a volatile day’s trade, as the firm’s debut on the Nasdaq exchange was also delayed by a technical glitch.

There wasn’t much to like about Facebook’s first day as a public company.

The social media giant’s stock rose by mere pennies in its initial public offering. The shares closed at $38.23, barely above the $38 IPO price.

The performance fell far short of the grandiose expectations of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and raised questions about whether the company’s stock will be the sure bet many had counted on.

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  Facebook’s lackluster debut hurts other social media stocks  Read more...

–Facebook’s more-than-460 million shares traded exceeds prior record for an IPO stock

–Volume beats mark previously held by GM

–Seen as welcome boost from recent low equity-trading volume

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–In a stock debut that some felt didn’t impress, Facebook Inc. (FB) still found a way to make history.

More than 460 million shares in the social network traded Friday, the day of its public listing, setting a new record for a stock debut. In just the first few minutes after listing, 100 million shares changed hands. The heavy trading provided a shot in the arm to trading desks …  Read more...

Click photo to enlarge

After the most successful technology IPO in history, Facebook prepared Friday for its first day on Wall Street, possibly pushing its record $104 billion valuation even higher.

Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the Nasdaq stock exchange a stage set up outside at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time Friday, after employees spent all night coding in one of the company’s regular “hackathons.” Zuckerberg was joined on the stage by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg

SAN FRANCISCO -EDITOR’S NOTE — Facebook begins selling stock to the public Friday in the most talked-about market debut in years. Two Associated Press business writers are debating whether the stock is a smart buy.

I doubted Mark Zuckerberg when I met him more than five years ago, shortly after he rebuffed several chances to sell Facebook for a small fortune.

He seemed confident to the point of being cocky about his ability to turn what started as an online hangout for frisky college students into a digital commune for the entire world. Facebook had about 20 million users at the time.  Read more...

NEW YORK — Wall Street has one simple task as Facebook Inc. shares begin trading: Don’t mess it up.

Major stock exchanges, brokerage firms and mutual fund companies have been gearing up for one of the biggest initial public offerings on record. And, with all the hype surrounding the social-media giant, any snafus would be a major embarrassment.

“It has to go off without a hitch. There’s going to be a lot of visibility on this,” said Larry Tabb, chief executive of the TABB Group consulting and research firm. “If this goes poorly, it will not just be a poor reflection on Nasdaq — it will be a poor reflection on the U.S. market structure.”

Facebook Inc. is on the verge of becoming a $100-billion company.

The social-media goliath is expected later today to price its historic initial public stock offering at $38, which would make Facebook the second-largest IPO in U.S. history.

The offering would raise $16 billion initially, and ultimately up to $18.4 billion as the Wall Street investment banks handling the deal distribute additional “over-allotment” shares, as is common in sought-after IPOs.

Facebook’s debut has dominated Silicon Valley and Wall Street in recent weeks, as the company and the financial markets geared up for the most anticipated IPO since Google Inc. in 2004.  Read more...

CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer weighs in on whether it’s the right time to dive into Facebook’s IPO. His advice: “Everyday people shouldn’t buy this stock.”

Excitement is mounting for Facebook’s expected debut on financial markets Friday. So if you’re an individual investor, can you get a piece of the action, and should you?

The first thing to remember about IPOs is that they are not normally geared toward individual investors. Underwriting banks typically allocate IPO shares to their best clients, which include hedge funds, wealthy individuals and large institutional investors. These investors will get the right to buy a certain number of shares at the offering price, which is expected to be announced Thursday afternoon. Facebook estimates the offering price will be in the range of $28 to $35 a share.

Wondering what Facebook’s upcoming initial public offering of stock means for you? The Post’s business editors turned to our investment columnist Barry Ritholtz for some plain talk on the stock sale:

Q. I’m a regular Joe investor. Should I clear out my piggy bank to buy Facebook shares?

A. Chasing the latest hot deal has never been a very successful investment strategy. Rather than “clearing out your piggy bank” for any company, consider instead developing a long-term plan – then stick to it. That way, you are playing the highest probability odds for yourself.  Read more...