back to article Facebook jumps then slumps in first few minutes day's trade

Facebook's shares debuted on the Nasdaq today at $42 and immediately skidded downwards to the original IPO price of $38. The social network set its IPO price last night at $38, valuing it at $104bn. However, through the mysteries of IPOing, it actually opened at $42, shortly after 11am Eastern Time. That price values the …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So tonight, I'm gonna party likes it's 1999....

    ....and tomorrow join the dole queue like it's 2001

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      Re: So tonight, I'm gonna party likes it's 1999....

      I BOUGHT A COUPLE THOUSAND SHARES AT 375 HAHAHAHAHAH TOP THAT

      1. Mr Young
        Joke

        @Big Dumb Guy 555

        I wouldn't bet on the retirement if I was you - or are you developing a CAPS LOCK BOT between wanking sessions?

      2. Scott 19
        Devil

        @Big Dumb Guy

        Check the share price now Dumb.

        http://www.zerohedge.com/news/fadebook-enters-break-market-20-highs

        LMAO at you.

        1. ItsNotMe
          Thumb Up

          Re: @Big Dumb Guy

          Was there ever a handle MORE appropriate?

          "Facebook shares [FB 34.41 -3.8218 (-10%) ] sank on Monday without the full support of the company's underwriters, leaving some investors down 25 percent from where they were Friday afternoon."

          What a putz!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So tonight, I'm gonna party likes it's 1999....

        How's that going for you?

    2. LarsG
      Unhappy

      Does anyone

      remember the dot.com bubble of a few years ago? It burst.......

  2. W.O.Frobozz
    Thumb Down

    Where's Pud when you need him...

    ...I think he needs to re-launche F'dcompany.com for the 2.0 Bubble (TM).

  3. JDX Gold badge

    getting back towards $42 now. Wish I'd bought when it dropped.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. beep54
      Meh

      Hell, I wish I'd sold short in a BIG way1

  4. armyknife

    titles are for toffs.

    F******* Facebook Friday - now that today's IPO estimates the 'values' of mine and everyone else's facebook accounts at $115 each, I feel the need to withdraw this product, ie me, from the market place.

    So if like me, you've had somewhat mixed feelings about using the website and the positives, some types of social interaction, have been balanced by the negatives, loss of privacy and the wrong sort of on site inaction, why not take this opportunity to close your account and grab back those supposed 405 minutes a month each of us give to it ?

    Let the Web 2.0 bubble start to deflate.

    * It's not what you think, farewell doesn't have 7

  5. John A Blackley

    Again?

    Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

    1. I think so I am?

      Re: Again?

      i.e. a small number of people make crap fulls of money at the expense of many

  6. Graham Wilson
    Unhappy

    Not Again!

    Forgot to by Microsoft shares when it floated, now I can't afford Facebook ones.

    Oh well, some of us seem destined never to buy a Ferrari.

  7. Steve Todd
    Stop

    So they priced the IPO about spot on then

    If the market opens and there are huge gains then the stock was under priced (that extra cash could have gone to the company not investors).

    If the market opens and the stock plummets then the stock was over priced (and you have cross investors).

    If it sticks at about its offer price (up 5% on the day according to the article) then they've got the price spot on. Where's the problem?

    1. elaar

      Re: So they priced the IPO about spot on then

      That would be correct, if it wasn't for the fact the price was manipulated.

      As soon as the share price started dropping, the investment banks underwriting the IPO stepped in and bought a ton of shares to keep the price up.

    2. Local Group
      Unhappy

      Re: So they priced the IPO about spot on then

      There is a blog at The Guardian which purports to show the order book for FaceBook yesterday at 12:34pm ET.

      <<"A screen grab of the order book for Facebook. The big yellow block represents bids for shares at $38.

      Business Insider gets a look at the order book, sent in by Twitter user @Bourbon_Meyer.

      "It strongly appears that there's a huge perma-bid at $38 on Facebook," Joe Weisenthal writes. "Check out the big mass of yellow on the left column... all those bids at $38.">>

      I can't copy the chart, but if you go to the Guardian you will see how the underwriter's manipulation supported the $38 price, which uninitiated investors attribute to other investors like themselves.

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/18/facebook-ipo-stock-market-live?commentpage=1#post-area

    3. trevi1900

      Re: So they priced the IPO about spot on then

      No they didn't. Read the article again. JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and other of the IPO underwriters purchased loads of stock before the closing in order to prop up the share price and avoid and even more embarrassing opening day. The big institutional investors and the big hedge fund managers were cautious because they have looked at the numbers and realized that Facebook has a revenue per user of only USD$9.00 which has been in decline the past three quarters (by comparison Google has a revenue per user of $63.00). Those guys in the market who do their due diligence know that so far Facebook has not come up with a viable profile growth model. All those 100's millions of eyeballs mean nothing if they are not clicking on sponsored ads and buying things (ask yahoo).

    4. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      Re: So they priced the IPO about spot on then

      Not if the underwriters are having to buy shares to shore the price up, as happened on Friday.

    5. beep54
      Devil

      Re: So they priced the IPO about spot on then

      The problem? The expectations!

  8. jake Silver badge

    The Emperor's New Clothes.

    Seriously. There is no "there" there ... How can a company with absolutely zero product be worth that much? What has facebook produced that I wasn't doing with computers before zuckerberg was born? Eventually people will realize that it's just a big wast of time and start bailing in droves.

    Historical precedent? Sure ... Holland, tulips, and the mid 1630s. For more see "Orchidelirium".

    Try to find a copy of the 1841 book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay ...

    1. Mike Flugennock
      Thumb Up

      Re: The Emperor's New Clothes.

      Seriously. There is no "there" there ... How can a company with absolutely zero product be worth that much? What has facebook produced that I wasn't doing with computers before zuckerberg was born? Eventually people will realize that it's just a big wast of time and start bailing in droves...

      My wife went totally gung-ho for Facebook a couple of years ago. When I told her there wasn't anything she could do with Facebook that couldn't be done with a blog or a properly-run listserv, she got all huffy and gave me that goddamn' tired-assed "Luddite" rap, finishing off with telling me I just hadn't learned to "embrace" it yet.

      Historical precedent? Sure ... Holland, tulips, and the mid 1630s. For more see "Orchidelirium"...

      Florida real estate in the 1920s? For more, see the Marx Brothers' Cocoanuts.

      1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

        Re: The Emperor's New Clothes.

        No, there isn't.

        However, it's a lot easier to get people to look at what you put on facebook. Not to mention it's both easier (and cheaper, if you factor in server and electricity costs) to manage a facebook account than it is either a blog or a listserv.

    2. beep54

      Re: The Emperor's New Clothes.

      Eh, I believe the 'tulips' story to be overblown into fantasy-land (Mackay's book seems to have been riddled with flaws). Still, it DOES make a good reference. But if you want overblown, no need to look any further than MySpace.

  9. Rufus McDufus

    "What has facebook produced that I wasn't doing with computers before zuckerberg was born?"

    Something successful?

    1. jake Silver badge

      ::eyeballs wedding ring & picture of daughter holding grandaughter::

      Oh, I dunno. I'm pretty happy :-)

      This ranch ain't half bad either ...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: ::eyeballs wedding ring & picture of daughter holding grandaughter::

        Harsh and a little unfair - Zuck will have kids and grandkids oneday...and he'll probably get visitation rights....certainly he'll have access to photos.

  10. Mage Silver badge
    Flame

    "What has facebook produced..."

    Irrelevant.

    They make money selling adverts because they are dominant in Social Networking. But it is precarious. They could crash and burn faster than you say "bebo".

    So how long does it take to make $115 in Adverts per user? Obviously they are overvalued.

    Icon for share price obviously.

    1. jake Silver badge

      @Mage (was: Re: "What has facebook produced...")

      Ads? What are these things called "ads" that you refer to?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @Mage (was: "What has facebook produced...")

        One day, when I am terminally bored, I may turn off "adblock" login to my FB account and see what these "ads" actually are. I mean apparently there are $3.xB p.a. worth of them, so they must be both prolific and impressive and impressively "in my face", right?

        1. BoldMan
          FAIL

          Re: @Mage (was: "What has facebook produced...")

          I see them occasionally if I ever forget myself and look at FB on my iPad - there are dozens of the buggers and it makes me realise I should not browse the web on Ipad Safari until Apple allows an adblock app for safari on a iPad (like that is EVER going to happen!)

          1. Danny 14
            Thumb Up

            Re: @Mage (was: "What has facebook produced...")

            I also might see them if I create a facebook account one day. That being said, beelzebub might also ice skate to work on that day.

          2. This post has been deleted by its author

          3. Psycho Flump

            @BoldMan

            You should try iCab, it has a built-in ad blocker.

          4. amanfromearth

            Re: @Mage (was: "What has facebook produced...")

            @Boldman

            There is adblock for safari in the app store, but it uses a proxy service.

  11. Benjamin 4

    Maybe I'm just skeptical, but I can't see it lasting. More and more users are jumping ship for services such as twitter, and while they're worth something, I think this is a hugely over inflated price. The problem with a site that depends on the whims of teenagers for a large portion of its revenue stream is teenagers are notoriously fickle, and have the attention span of (insert appropriate metaphor here).

    1. Mike Flugennock

      the attention spans of teenagers?

      ...The problem with a site that depends on the whims of teenagers for a large portion of its revenue stream is teenagers are notoriously fickle, and have the attention span of (insert appropriate metaphor here).

      Well, I won't speak for anyone else here, but when I was a teenager, I actually had quite a solid attention span, but -- and this was a big "but" -- it had to be something actually worth paying attention to. Granted, it was the early/mid '70s, but even then there was all kinds of electronic media jangle competing for my attention: we'd just gotten cable TV in our area, so there were suddenly shitloads of channels to flip through, plus "Pong" had been released during my freshman year of college...

  12. mraak

    They had to hold the price

    artificially. Once it fell back to original price the underwriters were holding the price not letting it go lower. It will be interesting to see how it moves once they won't be able to speculate further.

  13. AndGregor
    Meh

    So what's next

    Good luck to Zuckerberg, if he gets a few bill and a desert island out of it then why not, he wins. I suspect it's on it's way down the drain along with the w2k bug, dot com bubble and numerous other hyped up marketing ploys.. Seems to me is only marketing and people on the dole that like FB, not exactly known for their willingness to click and buy on a new shiny now are they.. Too early ?

  14. LordWilmore

    say wha?

    wtf is facebook?

    1. beep54
      Happy

      Re: say wha?

      Sorry, you might know it better as Fuckbook. Does that help?

  15. Local Group
    Happy

    " However, through the mysteries of IPOing, it actually opened at $42,"

    It is not a mystery.

    It is a market order called "buy on opening". Today everybody who bought the opening is out 4 bucks a share. They don't care 'cause they know it's going to $90 by Halloween. And they're going to double up when it hits $34.

    God Bless them everyone. They made Wall Street rich and powerful.

  16. Winkypop Silver badge
    Mushroom

    It only takes one prick.....

    ....to burst the biggest balloon.

  17. Eddy Ito

    Staying away, far away

    First there were 421 million shares floated and out of that only 43% were offered by Facebook Inc. Now consider that if this was such a great deal, why were the remaining 57% of the shares available from Facebook insiders? My take is that a whole bunch of folks who sold those 240 million shares are pretty happy with their take and many are probably looking to jump ship for the good life.

    Seriously folks, if they were expecting the price of shares to rise dramatically, why wouldn't they hold the shares until after the IPO popped and rake in a lot more cash? I'd wager it was because the best value for them was to get paid now.

    1. Local Group

      Re: Staying away, far away

      Not necessarily so.

      Let's say you were in at the start of a company like FB and were vested with shares now estimated to be worth a $ billion. You have a $ million dollars in cash and equivalents, but your billion dollars is tied up in stock that is not traded. Then your company announces an IPO.

      Do you want to keep all your eggs in one basket or be prudent? Do you cash out half or do you let it all ride for another spin of the roulette wheel and maybe have $2 billion?

      If you sell you should sell on IPO day as that's the day that you can sell into a market with more than enough buyers to get out without skewing the price. If you wait a couple months, the amount of stock you're selling will drive down the price and take weeks to get off.

      What does the reasonable man do? I know what I'd do.

  18. Scott 19
    WTF?

    New Share Deal

    I heard on the grape tree that next week the Nasdaq will be selling shares in Pudsey the dog at $1000 a share, after which they will work out how to make money from this one trick dog.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: New Share Deal

      I heard that grapes grow on vines, not trees.

  19. jonathanb Silver badge

    It is different this time

    But only a little bit different.

    Unlike the companies in the previous dot.com bubble, Facebook does make decent profits of around $1bn per year, so the company is certainly worth something.

    The only problem with it is the price. It values the company at around $100bn. Why would you pay $100bn for Facebook when pretty much everyone who is likely to sign up for it already has, and there is a risk that existing subscribers might jump ship to something else in the future in the same way that people jumped ship from MySpace and Friends Reunited to Facebook a few years back.

    Given the fact the company has reached saturation point, and the risk of something new replacing it, even $10bn would be expensive - that would mean a 10 year payback, and I don't really see Facebook still being around as the market leader in 10 years time. At $3bn or $4bn, I would probably bite.

  20. Soma
    Go

    What goes up must come down (Amended and Disproved)

    Attributed to Isaac Newton... the law of gravity!

    Only problem, of course, is that this is actually something that he conclusively disproved. If Facebook Shares have sufficiently high upward velocity, gravity, weakening evermore with increasing distance, will not be able to bring the Facebook Shares down. They will be in a 'hyperbolic' orbit.

  21. Wyccant
    Holmes

    Buy into it now, figure out how to turn a profit later.

    Strategy has been a roaring success since 1998.

  22. Alan Brown Silver badge

    "How to make a small fortune on the Internet"

    "First, start with a large fortune"

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