Facebook to Commence Trading Today (FB)

PUBLISHED: 18 May 2012 @ 15:42 | Comments (0) | More info about Ed Liston

Social Networking giant, Facebook completed its initial public offering (IPO), the biggest ever in tech sector’s history and third biggest for a U.S. Company. The company raised $16 billion in its much-awaited IPO.

No one in their wildest dreams would have ever imagined that a company born 8 years ago with no way to make money will be worth $104 billion in such a short period of time. Facebook’s current market value exceeds the market caps of tech heavy weights like Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ).

According to a data provided by Dealogic, a financial data provider, Facebook is the third-highest valued company to ever go public. Prior to Facebook’s IPO, only two Chinese banks have been valued more.

The Company priced its share at $38. From Friday onwards, Facebook shares will be traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker FB.

Facebook’s IPO comes after strings of some other social networking and Internet companies’ public debut-which were met with varied degree of success.

Data provided by Renaissance Capital shows that among biggest IPOs from U.S. company, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), comes first on the list as it raised $17.86 billion in 2008.

Even though Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares, he will still remain the largest shareholder of the company.

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