The social networking site Facebook, launched in early 2004 by students at Harvard University, quickly gained popularity not only among students in American educational institutions, but throughout the world. Today the site has several million unique visitors every month. As a public company, Facebook does not have a single owner; FB shares have been listed on the stock exchange since May 2012.
CBS Marketwatch chief executive Larry Kramer, in an analytical review, provides data on who owns Facebook shares. About 30% of the company's assets are owned by employees of the social network. The founder of the project, Mark Zuckerberg, owns approximately 24% of the shares, Dustin Moskowitz - 6%, Eduardo Saverin - 5%, Sean Parker owns 4%. The largest shareholder after Zuckerberg is DST, which owns about 10% of FB's shares.
As reported by RIA Novosti, on May 18, 2012, Facebook shares began to be traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange during a financial operation on the company's initial public offering (IPO). It should be recalled that an IPO (first public offering of securities) is one of the ways to attract additional investment. The very fact of Facebook's participation in the IPO suggests a high assessment by potential investors of the economic efficiency of the issuing company.
On the day of the start of Facebook's participation in the public sale, there were some curiosities. Rampant demand for securities of the social network from the side of future co-owners led to a failure in the technical system of the exchange. Reuters reported that as a result, several financial companies that became intermediaries in the purchase and sale of shares lost more than $ 100 million. Malfunctions in the system led to delays in processing applications from a number of investors who wanted to buy shares of the social network. Affected investors and brokers have already filed lawsuits against the Nasdaq exchange, demanding compensation for losses.
According to analysts from the Moscow Stock Center, Facebook was too inadequately valued at the start of trading, which also affected the quotes. The point is that FB does not have real assets in the amount at which it was estimated. In addition, due to the non-obviousness of the business model used in Facebook, it is very difficult to predict the long-term dynamics of the company's financial performance. The triumph of the IPO was also somewhat cooled by the fact that some shareholders accused the company and the organizers of the initial public offering of shares of withholding material information.
