Blame was passed from Facebook’s bankers to Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) as the Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) IPO faltered and opening bids and offers failed to be properly matched and there was some evidence this occurred for hours. The IPO price point almost broke below the set price and bankers appear to have worked furiously to keep shares above $38
Was this primarily the fault of Nasdaq and a failure to check its infrastructure? First evidence shows “yes”. This has already–in only a day–undermined its image as the preferred platform for IPOs . The image has not been helped much by the drop in the values of Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), and LinkedIn (NASDAQ: LNKD)
The net effect is that NYSE (NYSE: NYX),which lost the Facebook launch. The exchange will have a powerful case that the balance will list on NYSE.
Update: The Wall Street Journal writes that “Robert Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., on Sunday acknowledged design problems with Nasdaq’s technology after the exchange operator was widely seen as bungling the landmark listing of shares of Facebook Inc.on Friday.”
Douglas A. McIntyre
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