Facebook shares leap to US$43, then drop in IPO’s first day


18 May 2012

Social networking giant Facebook’s IPO got off to a rocketing start, with shares leaping an initial 13pc to US$43 as the stock opened for trading for the first time today.

Almost just as quickly, however, the gains dropped off and the company barely traded above its initial offering price of US$38, USA Today reported.

Facebook is being valued at more than US$100bn, and the company raised US$16bn in the IPO. It could raise more, up to US$18.4bn, if Facebook’s investment bankers use an overallotment option reserved to satisfy additional demand, according to USA Today.

The stock trades by the symbol FB on the NASDAQ exchange.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell from the company’s HQ in Menlo Park, California, to start the day’s trading on Wall Street earlier today.

He then took to his own Facebook page to add an update to it: ‘Mark listed FB on NASDAQ’.