Facebook Initial Public Offering

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The Real Reason Mark Zuckerberg is Paying $2 Billion in Taxes on the Facebook IPO

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -

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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NYSE: FB vs. Nasdaq: FB, And the Other Big Facebook IPO Questions

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

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?

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

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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The Facebook IPO: Why Facebook Subscribers Should Get a Piece of the Action

By , Executive Editor, Money Morning -

Mark Zuckerberg... you need to share the wealth from the Facebook IPO.

During a Wednesday morning appearance on the FoxBusiness "Varney & Co." program, Money Morning's Shah Gilani said the Facebook Inc. founder and CEO should reserve 20% of the potential $100 billion initial public offering (IPO) for some of the company's 6 00 million subscribers - since they're the folks who really made Zuckerberg the king of social networking (as well one of the youngest billionaires in history).

Given that the Facebook IPO is likely to be one of the hottest ever when the company goes public next year, Gilani said that his proposal would probably be the only way the average investor could get a piece of the company at the offering price. Otherwise, retail investors who really want to own Facebook shares will be forced to buy in on the secondary market after Facebook's share price has experienced what's expected to be a stratospheric zoom. So he challenged Zuckerberg to make this pioneering move.

"Zuckerberg made history with Facebook - and now he's the king of social media and social networking - the man with the Midas touch," said Gilani, a former Wall Street insider and Money Morning commentator who operates the Capital Wave Forecast advisory service. "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."

Added Gilani: "Facebook was Act One for him. This kind of pioneering move with the Facebook IPO could be Act Two - the encore. If social media is a force for good, this would be Zuckerberg's opportunity to once again prove he's a real social innovator."



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