Thursday, May 17, 2012

Face has added 84 Million More Shares For Sale

Just days away from launch, Facebook is continuing to make last-minute changes in its IPO plans.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced that an extra 84 million shares will be added to its stock pool for sale. The extra shares will come entirely from insiders and early investors, according to the Associated Press.
Facebook and its current stockholders will offer more than 421 million shares in the IPO. The company has raised the price range of its stocks to $34 to $38, up from $28 to $35. If the shares trade on the higher end, Facebook could raise $16 billion when it goes public.
Some of the early backers who are filing to sell more shares are PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management, according to a Reuters report. Thiel will sell 16.8 million shares instead of 7.7 million.
Accel Partners has reported 11 million more shares will be sold — totaling 49 million shares from the company and its director James Breyor, according to The Wall Street Journal. Tiger Global will sell 23.4 million shares — a huge step up from the 3.4 million shares it initially reported.
This could to be a solution to reports that the Facebook IPO has been oversubscribed. However, the huge spike in shares also comes despite reports of underwhelming demand for Facebook public shares.
Potential investors have expressed concern and fear that Facebook will not be able to increase its yearly earnings by building a advertising system for its mobile app. Facebook will need to introduce solutions to better reach its 901 million users. Last year, Facebook reported $3.7 billion in earnings.
Not all is rosy in advance of the IPO. On Tuesday, General Motors dropped out of Facebook’s ad program. Facebook lost $10 million in ad revenue from the deal.
The company’s acquisition of Instagram will also Nasdaq with the symbol “FB.”
Has all the hype influenced your interest in the Facebook IPO? Let us know whether you’re planning to buy or sit this one out. Retweet this story

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