Saturday, May 19, 2012

Status update: Facebook an "unlike" on first trading day

In the dotcom boom more than a decade ago, technology companies became known for their "stag" listings when they hit the sharemarket on day one.

Investors who took big allocations in the floats bet large, driving share prices exponentially higher before eventually cashing out at the top.

A few pundits thought Facebook might repeat history.

But it was not to be.

The social network closed US$0.23 above its listing price of US$38 per share after hitting a brief high of around US$45 per share.



Facebook dragged along the bottom towards the close and was perilously close to going underwater at one point.

So is there a wealth building future for Facebook, and can it convince investors that it can monetise the product beyond a fad?

One shouldn't forget a Nasdaq computer glitch that delayed orders and degassed the fizz, but Nasdaq's boss says it made little or no difference to the share price performance.

Investors want to know if Facebook is more sizzle than sausage.

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