Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq bell as Facebook begins trading
Facebook will start trading publicly today (18 May), and if everything goes well for the world’s largest social network, it will be looking at an initial value of $18.4 billion, making it one of the biggest IPOs in the world.
Facebook head Zuckerberg will ring the opening bell at NASDAQ Stock Market remotely from Facebook headquarters.
Facebook is selling a 15% stake in the company priced at $38 a share, giving the online social network a valuation of $104 billion.
High demand for the stock has led to both an increase in the stock price – putting it at the upper end of the expected $34 – $38 range – as well as the number of shares being sold.
Facebook has the potential to be the second-largest IPO in U.S. history, after that of Visa Inc, if the “greenshoe” option for the stock is exercised. This would allow the underwriters to sell additional shares, if demand exceeds the available amount.
During its IPO run, Facebook sold over 421 million shares, with 63.2 million set to be sold if needed. The excess sales would boost Facebook’s IPO to $18.4 billion, making it second only to Visa’s $19.1 billion IPO in 2008.
Once open for trade, there is an expectation that the share price will boom, despite some investor concerns over the profitability of the stock. Some analysts say Reuters reported
IPO facts (Reuters)
- Trading tag: FB (Nasdaq)
- Price: $38 a share
- Shares sold: 421.2 million; 63.2 million (to be sold if needed)
- Float: 15 percent to 18 percent
- Amount raised: $16.0 billion; $18.4 billion, including greenshoe
- Market value: $104 billion
- Lead advisers: Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs
Company facts
- Original name: thefacebook.com
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, California
- Employees: 3,200 as of December 31, 2011
- Revenue: $3.71 billion in 2011
- Biggest stakeholder: Mark Zuckerberg, who controls a 55.8 pct voting stake
- Number of users: 900+ million active monthly users;
Value of Facebook stakes (Bloomberg Billionaires Index)
- Mark Zuckerberg $19.3bn
- Dustin Moskovitz $5.1bn
- Alisher Usmanov $5bn
- Eduardo Saverin $2.9bn
- Sean Parker $2.5bn
- Peter Thiel $1.06bn
- Sheryl Sandberg $1bn
- Chris Hughes $835m
- Yuri Milner $400m
- Mark Pincus $164m
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