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It's a fine line. Markets care a lot about sentiment. A nice 10-15% pop on the first day leaves everyone feeling pretty good - and a nice halo around the compa
by jwilliams 14y ago
It's a fine line.
Markets care a lot about sentiment. A nice 10-15% pop on the first day leaves everyone feeling pretty good - and a nice halo around the company.
If the price levels off.. Well people will be inclined to be more critical. They'll be wanting FB to start moving the stock north sooner.
I was a bit curious about the pricing. As you say, they want the maximum investment value, but there is some sense in buying the management team some time. A billion less may have saved them a lot of headaches dealing with market criticism, given them time to get some wins...
Anyway. It's a brave new world when you suddenly have to start answering to shareholders.
- mahyarm 14y agoWhile Zuckerberg has a complete majority, in what ways do they have to answer to shareholders? Fear of stock price drops as people sell off? Reporting requirements?
- jwilliams 14y agoGood question! One I've been trying to wrap my head around for a while. This level of control at this stage/size is unprecedented (if somebody has some good analogs I'd be interested to hear...). There are all sorts of responsibilities and duties for an exec (of a public company in particular) - but I'd assume the FB board is insured to the hilt. Ultimately execs always answer to shareholders (i.e. they bring a return). Otherwise the market doesn't work - the market they've used to raise 16 billion... How this will manifest for FB now and in the future, I've got no idea. One thing happy shareholders does give you is access to future capital. However, can't see that being a problem for a while yet.
- jrockway 14y agoThis level of control at this stage/size is unprecedented Google's founders control the majority of Google's votes.
- sbierwagen 14y agoMinority-shareholder lawsuits.