Live Blog of Facebook IPO (Updated Throughout The Day)

Media

Published: May 18, 2012 10:16 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 12:44 am

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is finally public. After pricing about 421 million shares at $38.00, the company raised $16 billion without taking into consideration the green-shoe or overallotment option for the underwriters. This IPO is opening at 11:00 AM EST and the prevailing thought is a premium IPO happening here today. It goes without saying but this has been one of the most anticipated IPOs of all-time. We will be updating the action and the commentary throughout the trading day after this opens up for trading.

The underwriting syndicate was perhaps the largest we have seen yet: Morgan Stanley; J.P. Morgan Securities; Goldman Sachs; Merrill Lynch; Barclays Capital; Allen & Company; Citigroup Global Markets; Credit Suisse Securities; Deutsche Bank Securities; RBC Capital Markets; Wells Fargo Securities; Blaylock Robert Van; BMO Capital Markets; C.L. King & Associates; Cabrera Capital Markets; CastleOak Securities; Cowen and Company; E*TRADE Securities; Itaú BBA USA Securities; Lazard Capital Markets; Lebenthal & Co.; Loop Capital Markets; M.R. Beal & Company; Macquarie Capital; Muriel Siebert & Co.; Oppenheimer & Co.; Pacific Crest Securities; Piper Jaffray & Co.; Raymond James & Associates; Samuel A. Ramirez & Company; Stifel Nicolaus; The Williams Capital Group; and William Blair.

UPDATE 10:30 AM EST: We’ve been looking at different aspects of the Facebook IPO for the last few days. Here are links to some of our earlier coverage:

UPDATE 11:05 AM EST: Opening delayed nearly half an hour. Expect heavy volume gets the blame.

UPDATE 11:29 AM EST: Still waiting. Opening price started at $45, now down to $42.

UPDATE 11:31 AM EST: Now open – at $42.35.

UPDATE 11:32 AM EST: nasdaq.com overwhelmed with traffic.

UPDATE: 11:33 AM EST: FB trading down slightly at $41.17. Enough. Other things to do for a while.

UPDATE 11:43 AM EST: Shares now bounced off $40 and turned north again.

UPDATE 11:52 AM EST: Less than 30 minutes after the first trade, shares are bouncing around the IPO price of $38.

UPDATE 12:37 PM EST: More than 261 million shares of FB have traded hands in just over an hour. Share price now at $39.95.

UPDATE 12:55 PM EST: Shares of Zynga halted on IPO delay. More coverage here.

UPDATE 2:27 PM EST: After nearly 3 hours of trading, FB has moved nearly 385 million shares. The price jumped to around $41.70 at one point but has vacillated between $40 and $41 for the last 45 minutes or so.

UPDATE 2:44 PM EST: We have now seen the whole IPO volume trade as 425 million shares have traded hands; last print still up 5.2% at $40.00.

UPDATE 3:08 PM EST: Facebook has now broken an IPO record on share volume after passing the record held by GM with 458 million; FB volume is now 461 million shares.

The Average American Is Losing Momentum on Their Savings Every Day (Sponsor)

If you’re like many Americans and keep your money ‘safe’ in a checking or savings account, think again. The average yield on a savings account is a paltry .4%* today. Checking accounts are even worse.

But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying nearly 10x the national average! That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe and earn more at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. You can earn up to 3.80% with a Checking & Savings Account today Sign up and get up to $300 with direct deposit. No account fees. FDIC Insured.

Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes to open an account to make your money work for you.

^*https://www.fdic.gov/national-rates-and-rate-caps