When did Facebook start?
It all started in 2004 when then-freshman Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started "TheFacebook" as a way for students at the university to connect online. The announcement of the site was sent to an email distribution list of 300 students, but within the first 24 hours, four times that many had registered.
Who is Randi Zuckerberg?
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brian Withers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
How much did Facebook stock close on June 1?
The stock closed its second full week of trading on June 1 at $27.72. By June 6 investors had lost $40 billion. Facebook ended its third full week at $27.10, slightly lower than a week previous. The stock stayed below the $38 mark for months and finally bottomed out in September 2012 below $18.
When did Facebook go public?
The social networking company Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering ( IPO) on Friday, May 18, 2012. The IPO was the biggest in technology and one of the biggest in Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of over $104 billion.
How much did Facebook buy in 2007?
In 2007 Microsoft beat out Google to purchase a 1.6% stake for $240 million, giving Facebook a notional value of $15 billion at the time. Microsoft purchased preferred stock, which meant that the company's actual valuation would be considerably lower than $15 billion.
How much did Digital Sky Technologies buy in 2009?
Meanwhile, that valuation dropped to $10 billion in 2009, when Digital Sky Technologies bought a nearly 2% stake for $200 million - a larger stake than Microsoft had purchased at a lower price. An investment report in 2011 valued the company at $50 billion.
When did Facebook turn down Viacom?
Facebook reportedly turned down a $75 million offer from Viacom in 2006. That same year, Yahoo! attempted to buy the company for $1 billion but Zuckerberg refused. Also that year, BusinessWeek reported a $2 billion valuation for the company.
Is Facebook under investigation?
Facebook's IPO is now under investigation and has been compared to pump and dump schemes. Government officials called for investigations in the following weeks. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Chairman Rick Ketchum called for a review of the circumstances surrounding the troubled IPO. On 22 May, regulators from Wall Street 's Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that they had begun to investigate whether banks underwriting Facebook had improperly shared information only with select clients, rather than the general public. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin subpoenaed Morgan Stanley over the same issue. The allegations sparked "fury" among some investors and led to the immediate filing of several lawsuits, one of them a class action suit claiming more than $2.5 billion in losses due to the IPO.
Why are revenue projections not disclosed before an IPO?
Securities and Exchange Commission and other courts have said revenue projections need not be disclosed before an IPO because they are “inherently speculative and unreliable.”.
Did Facebook get sued for IPO?
Facebook faced a number of lawsuits following its IPO. It was alleged that Morgan Stanley and other analysts cut revenue estimates prior to the offering that weren’t disclosed in Facebook’s S-1 filing.
