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Publicado: 9 de octubre de 2012
BUSINESS > COMPANIES > FACEBOOK INC.
Facebook Inc.
FB: Nasdaq; Technology/IT Services & Consulting
OTHER EXCHANGES: XETRA Level 1
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with nearly a billion users worldwide. Roughly 200 million of them are in the United States, or two-thirds of the population
Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room at Harvard, Facebook grewfrom being a quirky site for college students into a popular platform that is used to sell cars and movies, win over voters in presidential elections and organize protest movements. It offers advertisers a global platform, with the exception of China, where Facebook does not operate.
In May 2012, Facebook raised $16 billion in its initial public offering, at $38 a share, that valued the company at$104 billion. It was the third-largest public offering in the history of the United States, behind General Motors and Visa.
The next day, Mr. Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the Nasdaq from the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Trading was delayed because of technical glitches at Nasdaq, and shares of Facebook, under the ticker FB, started selling to the public late in the morningat $42.05.
But shares fell soon afterward, closing at $38.23, just 0.6 percent above the I.P.O. price. And in the days afterward, they kept tumbling, closing on the third day at $31, more than 18 percent below its offering price.
In mid-June, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Nasdaq for its role in Facebook’s I.P.O. Regulators want to examine whether Nasdaqfailed to properly test its trading systems, which broke down during the I.P.O., and whether the exchange violated rules when it rewrote computer code to jump-start trading.
By late August, the company’s stock was worth just over half what it was three months earlier, with shares closing at $20.01 on Aug. 21. Wall Street analysts were openly wondering whether Mr. Zuckerberg had the business skills todeliver on his promises.
Facebook’s troubles began in earnest with an exceptionally ambitious I.P.O. Even the grown-ups that Mr. Zuckerberg chose to run the business side of the company — Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operations officer, and David Ebersman, the chief financial officer — seem not to have been skilled enough to stave off that disaster. Nor were the bankers who handled the deal,including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
To some observers, the problem was simple: the initial price was set too high. Others wonder whether the company would ever be able to turn its torrents of traffic into big profits, the way its arch-rival Google has done.
Wall Street wants to see swift growth in revenue, given Facebook’s still high valuation of around $50 billion. Facebook executivescounsel patience. They say they are building tools that will forever change the world — but have yet to reveal any details about how they plan to quickly increase profits.
The pressure from Wall Street comes on top of the intense scrutiny from consumers, courts and regulators worldwide over how Facebook handles the data it collects from its 901 million users.
2012 Earnings: Second Quarter
With itsmaiden earnings report for Wall Street in late July, the company reported a net loss of $157 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with net income of $240 million, or 11 cents a share, for the same quarter the previous year.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported a per-share profit of 12 cents, or $295 million.
But revenue climbed to $1.18 billion, from $885 million, slightly beating analysts’predictions; most of it came from advertising.
The company did not break out how much of that advertising revenue came from the mobile platform. Increasing revenue from mobile devices — the gateway to Facebook for more than half of all users — is the company’s most pressing challenge.
Analysts predicted revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, an increase of 28 percent, according to a...
Facebook Inc.
FB: Nasdaq; Technology/IT Services & Consulting
OTHER EXCHANGES: XETRA Level 1
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with nearly a billion users worldwide. Roughly 200 million of them are in the United States, or two-thirds of the population
Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room at Harvard, Facebook grewfrom being a quirky site for college students into a popular platform that is used to sell cars and movies, win over voters in presidential elections and organize protest movements. It offers advertisers a global platform, with the exception of China, where Facebook does not operate.
In May 2012, Facebook raised $16 billion in its initial public offering, at $38 a share, that valued the company at$104 billion. It was the third-largest public offering in the history of the United States, behind General Motors and Visa.
The next day, Mr. Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the Nasdaq from the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Trading was delayed because of technical glitches at Nasdaq, and shares of Facebook, under the ticker FB, started selling to the public late in the morningat $42.05.
But shares fell soon afterward, closing at $38.23, just 0.6 percent above the I.P.O. price. And in the days afterward, they kept tumbling, closing on the third day at $31, more than 18 percent below its offering price.
In mid-June, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Nasdaq for its role in Facebook’s I.P.O. Regulators want to examine whether Nasdaqfailed to properly test its trading systems, which broke down during the I.P.O., and whether the exchange violated rules when it rewrote computer code to jump-start trading.
By late August, the company’s stock was worth just over half what it was three months earlier, with shares closing at $20.01 on Aug. 21. Wall Street analysts were openly wondering whether Mr. Zuckerberg had the business skills todeliver on his promises.
Facebook’s troubles began in earnest with an exceptionally ambitious I.P.O. Even the grown-ups that Mr. Zuckerberg chose to run the business side of the company — Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operations officer, and David Ebersman, the chief financial officer — seem not to have been skilled enough to stave off that disaster. Nor were the bankers who handled the deal,including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
To some observers, the problem was simple: the initial price was set too high. Others wonder whether the company would ever be able to turn its torrents of traffic into big profits, the way its arch-rival Google has done.
Wall Street wants to see swift growth in revenue, given Facebook’s still high valuation of around $50 billion. Facebook executivescounsel patience. They say they are building tools that will forever change the world — but have yet to reveal any details about how they plan to quickly increase profits.
The pressure from Wall Street comes on top of the intense scrutiny from consumers, courts and regulators worldwide over how Facebook handles the data it collects from its 901 million users.
2012 Earnings: Second Quarter
With itsmaiden earnings report for Wall Street in late July, the company reported a net loss of $157 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with net income of $240 million, or 11 cents a share, for the same quarter the previous year.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported a per-share profit of 12 cents, or $295 million.
But revenue climbed to $1.18 billion, from $885 million, slightly beating analysts’predictions; most of it came from advertising.
The company did not break out how much of that advertising revenue came from the mobile platform. Increasing revenue from mobile devices — the gateway to Facebook for more than half of all users — is the company’s most pressing challenge.
Analysts predicted revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, an increase of 28 percent, according to a...
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