Facebook IPO - Lessons learned?

[whell]

I'm curious what my friends on the left side of this forum think about the events surrounding the Facebook IPO. Here's a firm that where the number 1 and number 2 ranking officers - Zuckerberg and Sandberg, who now have net worth in excess of $15B and $5B respectively - are certainly Dems and lean left.

Yet the IPO has made them billionaires, and had been fraught with allegations of, at best, overvaluation of stock, to at worst insider trading and mis-communicated changes to the valuation of the stock within days of the IPO. CBS News called the IPO 'drenched in arrogance' as the stock was overvalued and over-hyped from the start, and the insiders fed and fueled the hype.

Now, I suspect that if this were a company owned and abetted by the political right, some folks on this forum would be chomping at the bit to post how the Wall Streeters are getting their "comeuppance" and how greedy the right leaning owners must have been. Does that same characterization apply to this IPO, and this company, and these newly minted lefty billionaires?

I also suspect our mainstream media - those who cover the finance / investing world - are a bit complicit here as well. I think many were caught up in Zuckerberg's celebrity rather than doing any objective analysis of Facebook's finances.

[painter]

Originally Posted by whell

I'm curious what my friends on the left side of this forum think about the events surrounding the Facebook IPO. Here's a firm that where the number 1 and number 2 ranking officers - Zuckerberg and Sandberg, who now have net worth in excess of $15B and $5B respectively - are certainly Dems and lean left.

Yet the IPO has made them billionaires, and had been fraught with allegations of, at best, overvaluation of stock, to at worst insider trading and mis-communicated changes to the valuation of the stock within days of the IPO. CBS News called the IPO 'drenched in arrogance' as the stock was overvalued and over-hyped from the start, and the insiders fed and fueled the hype.

Now, I suspect that if this were a company owned and abetted by the political right, some folks on this forum would be chomping at the bit to post how the Wall Streeters are getting their "comeuppance" and how greedy the right leaning owners must have been. Does that same characterization apply to this IPO, and this company, and these newly minted lefty billionaires?

I also suspect our mainstream media - those who cover the finance / investing world - are a bit complicit here as well. I think many were caught up in Zuckerberg's celebrity rather than doing any objective analysis of Facebook's finances.

Good post!



Borrowing from a Merrylander post....

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/...NEW091211A.htm

There seems to be a double standard with where the wealth was acquired. If you are Oprah...a rock star, Michael Jordan, or made your millions as a box office star...the disparate is NOT!?

[CarlV]

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Sued Over Facebook IPO
By Don Jeffrey - May 23, 2012 8:04 AM PT
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were sued along with other underwriters and Facebook Inc. (FB) by investors who claimed they were misled in the purchase of the social network firm’s stock.

The investors said the members of a proposed class action, or group lawsuit, have lost more than $2.5 billion since the initial public offering last week, in a complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court. They claimed Facebook and the banks didn’t disclose lower revenue estimates.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...ebook-ipo.html

Take that and this

On Monday, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) announced that it cancelled its share buy backs while rumors circulated that its trading loss is growing. The figure may now hit $7 billion.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/05/jpm...-to-7-billion/

Ain't that great, and that was with depositors money too. I hears on the radio that indeed the gov would bail them out too because of deregulation.

And now Greece seriously looking to default.

Gonna be an interesting summer money wise.


Carl

[Dondilion]

Can you expand on your labeling the Face guys Lefties.

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by whell

I'm curious what my friends on the left side of this forum think about the events surrounding the Facebook IPO. Here's a firm that where the number 1 and number 2 ranking officers - Zuckerberg and Sandberg, who now have net worth in excess of $15B and $5B respectively - are certainly Dems and lean left.

Yet the IPO has made them billionaires, and had been fraught with allegations of, at best, overvaluation of stock, to at worst insider trading and mis-communicated changes to the valuation of the stock within days of the IPO. CBS News called the IPO 'drenched in arrogance' as the stock was overvalued and over-hyped from the start, and the insiders fed and fueled the hype.

Now, I suspect that if this were a company owned and abetted by the political right, some folks on this forum would be chomping at the bit to post how the Wall Streeters are getting their "comeuppance" and how greedy the right leaning owners must have been. Does that same characterization apply to this IPO, and this company, and these newly minted lefty billionaires?

I also suspect our mainstream media - those who cover the finance / investing world - are a bit complicit here as well. I think many were caught up in Zuckerberg's celebrity rather than doing any objective analysis of Facebook's finances.

How on earth is this a smear on the left as you are suggesting?

It's not.

Modern capitalism is a gambling game in which the participants try to rig the game.

The right is the group that wants the games to be left alone so all can try and rig their bets the left wants capitalism to return to what it was pre casino days.


Why are you so damned confused about these things?

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Can you expand on your labeling the Face guys Lefties.

I think he thinks Facebook folks are lefties because he things folks a on the right are to scared to use Facebook. All that info about them out there would require them to scrap the guns and buy tanks to feel safe.

[whell]

Originally Posted by CarlV

Take that and this

Ain't that great, and that was with depositors money too. I hears on the radio that indeed the gov would bail them out too because of deregulation.

And now Greece seriously looking to default.

Gonna be an interesting summer money wise.


Carl

Wow, and here I thought Dodd-Frank fixed all that....

[piece-itpete]

Don, commies, pinkos, marxists...

Couldn't resist, sorry.

Pete

[whell]

Originally Posted by noonereal

How on earth is this a smear on the left as you are suggesting?

It's not.

Modern capitalism is a gambling game in which the participants try to rig the game.

The right is the group that wants the games to be left alone so all can try and rig their bets the left wants capitalism to return to what it was pre casino days.


Why are you so damned confused about these things?

Open up your closed little mind, noone. I believe you've participated in the rants in this forum against corporate greed and the evils of capitalism. Yet, here are some prominent leftists who got caught all wide - eyed at the prospect of making a killing in the market. Using your terms, they were willing to "rig their bets" by over-valuing their stock price in an IPO. Now that they're caught with a bit of egg on their face, how do you account for their actions?

[whell]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Can you expand on your labeling the Face guys Lefties.

Not my label. Zuckerberg and Sandberg are fairly open in their support for the Donkeys.