Facebook stock drops to half of IPO price
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's beleaguered stock has lost more than half of its value since its initial public offering three months ago.
Facebook Inc.'s stock slid 7 cents to $18.98 in morning trading Monday. Earlier, it hit $18.75, a new low. The social networking icon's much-anticipated IPO turned sour amid technical problems on the NASDAQ stock market and high expectations. The stock has not surpassed its $38 IPO price since its first trading day.
Investors are worried about Facebook's ability to grow revenue quickly, especially when it comes to garnering mobile advertising dollars as users flock to smartphones and tablet computers. There are also looming expirations of the IPO lockup periods. Lockups preventing many Facebook employees from selling stock expire this fall, potentially flooding the market with more shares.
Facebook Inc.'s stock slid 7 cents to $18.98 in morning trading Monday. Earlier, it hit $18.75, a new low. The social networking icon's much-anticipated IPO turned sour amid technical problems on the NASDAQ stock market and high expectations. The stock has not surpassed its $38 IPO price since its first trading day.
Investors are worried about Facebook's ability to grow revenue quickly, especially when it comes to garnering mobile advertising dollars as users flock to smartphones and tablet computers. There are also looming expirations of the IPO lockup periods. Lockups preventing many Facebook employees from selling stock expire this fall, potentially flooding the market with more shares.
Remember the demise of myspace after Murdoch spent $500 million on it? FB is following the exact same path, and they'll do the EXACT same thing. First, they bloat the site with too much advertising and applications that have viruses. Next they'll launch a music label, and then everyone will migrate to the next big thing.
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I think FB actually has a decent business model and good long term prospects as a business, but as an IPO and a publicly traded company I think it has limited potential.
All Facebook is, is an electronic Gossip column. It doesn't do anything, it doesn't make anything all it does is allow a place for advertising. The entire Facebook "phenomenon" is based on media hype. Now we can see how "silly" our Financial Systems really operate.
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Facebook is the America Online of the 21st Century.
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 @RTNavy Couldn't have said it better. The AOL of the 21st Century..
FB is a modern day success run by liberals who knew exactly whet their "product" was and sold it to other like minded liberals who thought they too were going to become the next Microsoft Millionaire types...
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I love how this is getting spun to blame investors and banks. FB just presented the info to the investment bankers who handled the transactions - FB scammed their own kind to the tune of billions...
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This is a classic example of the difference between conservatives and liberals.
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A conservative makes a bad financial decision and says never again I learned. ( I learned not use that investment banker, or invest in that type of product or service or to only invest a percentage not my entire nest egg)
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A liberal makes a bad financial decision and starts blaming everyone else and then wants the government to pay them back for their losses, stupidity and greed...
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Interesting to watch the spin...
@Truth Percolates There is really not enough dump trucks in this world to carry the loads of absolute poo you have been shoveling. It's amazing.Â
 @Truth Percolates What an absolute idiot. Your attempt at making this about "liberal" and "conservative" is pathetic. So, according to your argument conservatives wouldn't ask the government for a bailout. But our recent experiences with TARP, which include the most ultra-conservative companies on the planet prove otherwise. There is an abundance of examples of the losses, stupidity and greed of conservative companies and conservatives in general, so, go back to your glass house...
@Truth Percolates Dude, this is the second story I have read, and here you are again, top of the comment thread, blathering about liberals. Do you have anything else on your mind?? This was about an IPO and once again nothing in the story was about liberals or politics. Man, how bored are you?
Good. Â Hope it goes to zero. Â Im sick and tired of these IPOS and companies making billions off of essentially nothing. Â Isnt it time the investment world base their money on something tangible for once? Â This after all is why we are in the mess we're in.
I'm with you. I hope it goes to ZERO. All this worry about share value and increasing share value are part of what has caused our financia mess. Back in the 1950s (Where tax rates on millionaires could be 90% and our economy was STRONG) the focus was on building the enterprise and returning value to the shareholder through dividends. Today dividends are all but forgotten. Investors are looking for increased share value to do a quick "Turn & Burn" They no longer care if a company DOES anything, just so long as their share values go up.
Peeps are calling for zuckies resignation. Lol fb is stupid!
Bwhahahaha. I would like to know who the investment bank and the law firm that did this IPO. They made out like bandits.Â
@GeorgeG. Morgan Stanley I believe it was
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 @northwestsurfer Yep. Just add that to the $5.7 billion that Dimon lost last quarter with risky bets on sub-prime mortgages. But hey, Congress loves him, as do his stock holders. He'll still make millions on bonuses, so he doesn't care...