Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) began trading today with an immediate increase of 13.1% on its share price to post $43 a share, but then tanked almost afterwards.
The weak pop was realized due to a delay in trading, since it usually starts at 11 a.m. The delay, which was experienced, was due to last minute orders that were placed on the trading platform. This was even after the exchange assured traders that they would be ready for the trading that was expected to hit fever pitch after the IPO.
Shares of the giant social networking firm also tanked, after a few hours of trading and reached a low of $38, but this is attributed to fluctuations caused by share movements.
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) set its share price on $38, the high end of its target, just before the markets opened today. Zuckerberg was able to raise more than $16 billion at this share price, and this will be a big boost to Facebook coffers. In addition, with the current share price, Zuckerberg has a stake worth $21.65 billion of the firm that he founded in a dorm room, and Facebook is valued at $117.8 billion.
The increase that was realized by Facebook is quite low when compared to other Internet based firm’s IPOs. For instance, when Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) was listed, it traded upwards by more than 65%, and LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD) had a huge leap to post 109% increase on its first day of trading.
The shares for Facebook have so far kissed the initial share price, and also hit a high of $43, and at the end of trading today, it can only be anyone’s guess where the shares will be.
