Facebook says Zuckerberg won't sell stock for 1 year
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's stock got some reprieve in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company said its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, won't sell stock in the company for at least the next 12 months.
Investors have been concerned with the expiration of lockup periods that allow insiders to sell stock in Facebook. If a lot of shares flood the market the stock price may fall. Adding to those worries, Peter Thiel, a board member and Facebook's earliest big investor, has shed most of his holdings in the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company.
In the Tuesday regulatory filing, Facebook allayed some of those fears. In addition to its disclosure about Zuckerberg's plans, it said that two of its board members, Marc Andreessen and Donald Graham, plan to sell shares to cover taxes, but have no "present intention" to sell any additional stock.
Earlier in the day the social media company's stock fell to its lowest point since its initial public offering after an analyst for the bank that orchestrated its IPO cut his target price on the stock to $32 from $38 saying that its mobile advertising revenue is just starting to grow. The latter was Facebook's IPO price - the one it hasn't hit since its first day of trading on May 18.
Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt still has an "Overweight" rating on Facebook stock. Doug Anmuth, an analyst at JPMorgan, which was another large underwriter of the offering, also cut his target price on Tuesday, to $30 from $45. He kept an "Overweight" rating as well.
Facebook's stock fell to $17.55 in Tuesday trading, its lowest point ever, and closed down 33 cents at $17.73. That's less than half of the stock's initial public offering price of $38. It climbed 31 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $18.04 in after-hours trading following the disclosure that Zuckerberg will hold off on selling.
Facebook also said that it plans to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 23.
Investors have been concerned with the expiration of lockup periods that allow insiders to sell stock in Facebook. If a lot of shares flood the market the stock price may fall. Adding to those worries, Peter Thiel, a board member and Facebook's earliest big investor, has shed most of his holdings in the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company.
In the Tuesday regulatory filing, Facebook allayed some of those fears. In addition to its disclosure about Zuckerberg's plans, it said that two of its board members, Marc Andreessen and Donald Graham, plan to sell shares to cover taxes, but have no "present intention" to sell any additional stock.
Earlier in the day the social media company's stock fell to its lowest point since its initial public offering after an analyst for the bank that orchestrated its IPO cut his target price on the stock to $32 from $38 saying that its mobile advertising revenue is just starting to grow. The latter was Facebook's IPO price - the one it hasn't hit since its first day of trading on May 18.
Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt still has an "Overweight" rating on Facebook stock. Doug Anmuth, an analyst at JPMorgan, which was another large underwriter of the offering, also cut his target price on Tuesday, to $30 from $45. He kept an "Overweight" rating as well.
Facebook's stock fell to $17.55 in Tuesday trading, its lowest point ever, and closed down 33 cents at $17.73. That's less than half of the stock's initial public offering price of $38. It climbed 31 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $18.04 in after-hours trading following the disclosure that Zuckerberg will hold off on selling.
Facebook also said that it plans to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 23.
The ORIGINAL problem that lends huge risk to this business venture still exists, despite some very hard work by talented people. What would happen today to your smile; Mark, if it comes out on the news today that a family had been targeted and murdered through the access vehicle of a hacked Facebook account?
Wow -- he looks old. What's he, 28?!?Â
From the looks of that growth on his cheek puts a whole new meaning to the title "facebook"
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No wonder he advocates using a computer vs actually having real "facetime"
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jk I know it's his boom mic. Â But that sure does look like the mother of all zits
I guess the days of buy and hold are a thing of the past.
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We cannot even get the ceo to hold his own stock for 1/2 a year.
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Really helps put faith that the stock market is a great valuation tool huh? Â sarcasm
Yeah, assuming he has anything left after that long.
Like the old saying goes:Â The caption must go down with the ship.....
He is a Jewish atheist Liberal, his wife is a huge Obama liberal...WHY ALL THE HATE??!! lol
 @Truth Percolates more like Truth Perculhates
I'm still trying to figure out wot in the 'ell their business model is, oh selling people's data to others. Sure that's going to go over well in the long term. Yup and here's a tip; fb stock will never return to it's original "value".LOLZ!
While it's possible that Facebook will make adjustments that will lead to stable profitability, I think their stock is going to be in the dog house for a long while. Â Too many institutional investors got hammered when they bought on the IPO. Â I doubt these guys will be buying significant amounts of stock any time soon.
Yikes! Mark you look into a mirror lately?
@Windowseat thats his boom microphone. I thought it was a zit or something at first, but if you look closer, you can see its just the end of his mic
 @northwestsurfer Oh yeah, that had me going too. At least I hope that's a microphone. LOL!
 @Zoso  @northwestsurfer I was going to suggest he sell some of his shared and pay a dermatologist to pop that zit....
Mark, man before the stock is completly in the toilet do something about that tree growing out of you cheek.
 @Kodiak I'm pretty sure that it's his microphone.
No kidding ! LOL. If he doesn't lose that thing he should change his name to Mark Melanoma !
@ZIPPY its his microphone.
I'm sure his shares are printed on different paper than regular shares. I doubt he's really losing out on anything by holding on to his preferred shares.Â