Facebook Stock Resumes Slide as Lockup Expires
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EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The beaten-down shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) slid further Thursday morning, the first day the social network’s “lockup” expired for early investors, allowing them to sell their stakes.
Expectations were sky-high that early investors and employees would sell their shares and become millionaires or billionaires. But now that the stock has fallen almost 50 percent below its offer price, disappointed shareholders have been cashing out.
Shares were down over 6.3 percent to $19.85 in mid-morning trading.
Facebook’s stock has been in a near free fall since employees announced they were leaving the company and institutional funds started selling. Times were rough since Facebook’s initial public offering on May 18 when technical glitches on the Nasdaq exchange caused delays in confirming trades. Nasdaq announced in June a $40 million fund to compensate investors “disadvantaged” by the technical problems.
Facebook’s IPO was priced at $38 and stock opened in May at $42.05. It closed that day at $38.23 but has since been down 36 days more than it’s been up.
Facebook has lost about $40 billion in market value since the IPO, and as such is the worst major IPO ever, according to Bloomberg.
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