Nasdaq: FB
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Facebook IPO Date: May 17 Might Be the Magic Day
Here's some news devout Facebook followers and savvy investors are sure to "like" - don't write it in ink just yet, but looks like May 17 could be the Facebook IPO date.
While Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) refused to comment, "multiple sources close to the company" say that is the date, according to TechCrunch.
Ever since Facebook filed the necessary papers to go public in February, speculation has run rampant as to the exact timing. Late spring sprung up as the most likely time, but no precise date was set.
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Possible Dates Released for Facebook Stock to Hit Markets
Possible dates have been released for the highly anticipated Facebook stock (NASDAQ: FB) to start trading, and if they're right the company could start its road show in less than a month.
CNBC reported that investors could see the Facebook IPO priced by May 16 or 17, and start trading the next morning, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter. The social media giant filed for its IPO Feb. 1.
If this timeline comes true, Facebook will start marketing the deal May 7.
A possible IPO delay could stem from Facebook's new $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing network Instagram. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has to review the deal and could approve as early as the end of April.
If the Instagram deal takes longer than expected to approve, Facebook could hold off pricing until May 23 or 24, CNBC reported.
The Facebook road show is expected to last about 10 days, focusing on potential investors in New York, Silicon Valley and Boston, according to the source.
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Tech News: Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) Scores Big with Both AOL Patent Sale and Instagram Deal
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) topped the tech news today (Monday), benefitting from both a record-making deal with photo-sharing network Instagram, and an AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) patent sale.
Facebook announced Monday it would pay $1 billion in cash and stock for photo-sharing app maker Instagram.
The Instagram deal is Facebook's biggest ever in both price and reach. Instagram has more than 30 million active users - which it accumulated in just 18 months - the most of any startup that Facebook has bought.
"We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Monday, speaking to the size and scope of the deal. "But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together."
Instagram, the most popular way for iPhone users to take and share photos, was named iPhone app of the year in 2011. Its features allow picture takers to alter the size, color and style of photographs.
The Android Instagram app debuted last week to a frenzied audience, with millions downloading the app immediately.
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Sorry, NYSE: Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) Will Trade on Nasdaq
Investors finally have the answer to where Facebook Inc. will choose to list shares when the social media powerhouse starts trading this year.
Say hello to NASDAQ: FB.
Facebook had no comment as to why it chose Nasdaq. The news was reported in The New York Times citing a source speaking on anonymity.
Facebook plans to raise up to $5 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), which it filed for Feb. 1. It's expected to start trading in May.
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Buy, Sell or Hold: The Real Winner in the Yahoo (YHOO) vs Facebook Fight Could Be Augme Technologies (AUGT)
I love to find asymmetric risk/reward scenarios in the market.
You can do that with a small company which has the ability to unlock a large payday - and I believe I have found one with Augme Technologies Inc. (OTC: AUGT ).
To understand the value of mobile marketing company Augme, first we have to look at what Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) has done to Facebook.
Ripples shot through the technology space last week when Yahoo launched an all-out patent assault against Facebook.
Yahoo is demanding billions in licensing fees for the use of its technologies.
Yahoo has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in Facebook's ads, privacy controls, newsfeed and messaging service.
In simple terms, Yahoo is getting ready to try and bring Facebook to its knees through legal means.
"Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property," a Yahoo spokesman said in an e-mailed statement. "We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward unilaterally to protect our rights."
Should Yahoo sue Facebook, it would mark the first major legal battle among technology giants in the social media sphere.
It would indicate a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple, Microsoft and Motorola.
Yahoo's patent claims come hot on the heels of Facebook's IPO announcement to raise money that would roughly give them a $100 billion valuation.
This lawsuit threat can only have Facebook's management, its bankers and lawyers rushing to secure some sort of defensive arsenal to fight off this and other pending attacks.
While this battle has captured everyone's attention, what I find more interesting is Yahoo's seemingly blatant hypocrisy.
Yahoo appears to be throwing rocks from its glass house at the neighbors by wanting to make others pay for the unauthorized use of its patented technology.
What Yahoo is seemingly trying to ignore is that it, too, has been accused of the same type of intellectual property theft - and the accuser is Augme Technologies.
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The Real Reason Mark Zuckerberg is Paying $2 Billion in Taxes on the Facebook IPO
As the much-ballyhooed Facebook IPO looms closer, there's a mountain being made out of a molehill.
Turns out 27-year-old founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg may have a $2 billion tax bill that, according to a variety of sources, he intends to pay in full.
He seems like a regular guy...or is he?
To say I'm skeptical of his intentions would be an insult to actual skeptics. I think the "Zuck" is a great guy, but a regular guy? No way.
He didn't build from scratch a business that has 845 million customers by being stupid.
Zuckerberg goes to great lengths to project an aw-shucks kind of image. But in reality, this move is about as down-to-earth as Kim Kardashian's wedding. And it's every bit as sophisticated a play as I would have expected out of Larry Ellison or the late Steve Jobs.
Zuckerberg (and presumably his advisors) knows that the stakes couldn't be higher than they are at the moment, which is why he wants to pay this tax bill and reinforce the illusion that Facebook is part of Middle America - instead of being built upon its back.
He knows that successfully doing so will help him monetize your information when Facebook goes public.
I say this because it's important to remember the only reason Facebook is worth anything is because users - people like you - have voluntarily, with no compensation whatsoever, assembled the greatest single collection of marketing data in recorded history. That's right. Your data is going to make him rich.
So where are all the privacy advocates now?
I'd love to see what Facebook's proposed valuation would be if 845 million people suddenly decided they really don't want to share their most intimate moments with friends or decide they don't really want to "like" anything.
And why hasn't the Occupy Wall Street crowd or the Tax the Rich bunch latched onto this?
Because evidently none of them can spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y. And many are probably too busy using Facebook to "meme" about their activities to pay attention anyway.
But that's really beside the point.
A Zuckerberg Tax? ...Give me a Break
There should be a huge amount of backlash, but there isn't. Well, unless you count any number of proposals like the "Zuckerberg Tax" advanced last Tuesday in a New York Times OpEd piece by tax lawyer David Miller.
Miller advocates allowing the government to claw back money from the ultra-wealthy. He believes that individuals earning more than $2.2 million in income or having more than $5.7 million in securities should have their stocks marked to market and taxed even if they haven't sold their investments.
That's asinine.
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Buy, Sell or Hold: When to Buy Shares of Facebook
You might have heard....
Facebook Inc. (NYSE: FB) is the most awaited initial public offering (IPO) since Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG).
The recent registration of the company's IPO documents means it won't be long until Facebook shares begin trading freely.
But will Facebook shares make you rich beyond your wildest dreams like mural painter David Choe?
Or would you be better off watching from the sidelines before you buy shares of the social media giant?
The Details behind the Facebook IPO
Here's what I've learned from Facebook's S-1.
Some of the data points buried in the IPO document are eye-opening, to say the least.
Chief among those are Facebook's assertion that 6% to 7% of the entire world population logs in every day. More importantly, they stay logged in for a significant amount of time.
However, what will happen in the future to drive the stock's share price after it's brought to market is buried deeper in the details.
It's these details that make Facebook's IPO a hold if you already own shares, but also a "wait to buy" if you are like most people and want to own them.
In a nutshell, what I've learned is the banks are bringing Facebook to market fully priced.
My opinion is the bankers have gotten greedy and decided to push the valuation numbers above the levels that I believe are sustainable.
The company is being valued at $75 billion - $100 billion dollars at launch. This would make it one of the most valuable companies in the world, yet its actual revenue, let alone profitability, is at a more mundane level.
Currently, Facebook is reporting about $4 billion in revenue and profits of $1 billion.
That means if Facebook prices in at the top of its estimated range ($100 billion), based on current disclosures it would have a 100-to-1 price to earnings (P/E) ratio.
In other words, it's only going to take about 100 years for Facebook to eventually earn what it may price at. Compared to other blockbuster stocks, that's quite rich.
By comparison, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) has $100 billion in cash and a P/E ratio of 11 while Google's P/E is 20.
That's why it's time to "Hold" Facebook (**) or wait to buy it until insiders get a chance to sell their shares and bring the price down to levels common people can realistically afford to purchase.
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NYSE: FB vs. Nasdaq: FB, And the Other Big Facebook IPO Questions
Investors were on high alert today (Wednesday) for a Facebook IPO, which has rumored to reserve both NYSE: FB and Nasdaq: FB as possible ticker symbols.
A New York Post article reported the two listing companies were in "hot debate" for Facebook.
"Facebook won't significantly change the listing revenues for these companies but there could be a real halo effect wherein other companies decided to list with whichever wins Facebook," Larry Tabb, founder of capital markets advisory firm Tabb Group, told The Post.
Besides the ticker, the biggest questions on investors' minds include:
How much does Facebook want to raise? The latest rumors say the filing will set a preliminary goal of $5 billion, which can be raised if enough investor interest is shown.
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Facebook IPO: Where's the Love, Mark Zuckerberg?
The long-awaited Facebook IPO is finally arriving - and it's time for Mark Zuckerberg to share the love.
But most of Facebook's 800 million users won't get a chance to grab a piece of the multibillion-dollar deal.
Instead, the shares will be reserved for the wealthiest investors, not the loyal users who have fueled Zuckerberg's rise to riches.
Before Facebook, Zuckererg was just a college student....
Today, Zuckerberg's net worth is $17.5 billion and he's ranked No. 52 on the Forbes list of billionaires - No. 22 in the United States - and No. 9 on the Forbes list of powerful people.
"Zuckerberg made history with Facebook - and now he's the king of social media and social networking - the man with the Midas touch," said Money Morning Capital Waves Strategist Shah Gilani. "But now it's time for him to give some of the gold that he's earned as the head of Facebook back to the people who helped make that happen. They're the ones who have brought his company to the forefront. They're the ones who should be participating in this."
So, how could Zuckerberg use the Facebook IPO to give back to those who've helped him become an Internet legend?
Gilani has a plan for that...
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Before You Get Excited About the Facebook IPO…
For more than a year there has been rampant speculation about a Facebook IPO, and now it finally appears as though one is on the way.
The social media giant could file papers for an initial public offering as soon as Wednesday, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The company is looking at a deal that would value the social media giant between $75 billion and $100 billion, the WSJ reported, making it one of the biggest in U.S. history.
Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique told MarketWatch a Facebook IPO will likely lead to "pandemonium."
"It's absolutely massive," Sweet said in an interview. "The mere drop of a hint will cause pandemonium."
Facebook is looking to raise as much as $10 billion, which would make it the fourth-largest U.S. IPO behind Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), and AT&T Wireless. A $100 billion valuation would make Facebook worth as much as global powerhouse McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD).
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