Live data from Hacker News

Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

bloomberg.com

21–27 of 27 posts

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#21
I'm amazed the article didn't mention the lawsuits that are being filed against the lead underwriters Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan etc; according to the claims, some institutional investors got insider info that presumably leaked through the "Chinese wall" that FB was ill-positioned to take advantage of growing mobile ad views and thus would have to lower its earnings guidance for the next quarter.

Then again, the SEC and practically all government agencies are revolving doors with big business so I wouldn't be surprised that all they get is a slap on the wrist.

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#22
post #17
post #6

You know what? Good. A stock that explodes after the IPO means it was priced too low, and the company didn't raise a fair amount of capital. Facebook is obviously smart enough to think for the long term. I don't trust the financial machinery to do that.

Here's how real people think about a hyped, flop of an IPO: People don't like the feeling of being sold something for more than it's worth. We call that being "ripped off," and most folks don't take too kindly to it. I believe you described this as getting a "fair amount." People also don't like the folks who rip off other people. It's kind of a dick move to rip someone off. Those folks tend to do quite well, yes. Th…

I'm with you.

It still baffles me how anyone could think that this IPO was about anything but making vulgar amounts of money for Facebook.

I guess the label is now more accurate than ever: "...dumb fucks."

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's how real people think about a hyped, flop of an IPO: People don't like the feeling of being sold something for more than it's worth. We call that being "ripped off," and most folks don't take too kindly to it. I believe you described this as getting a "fair amount." People also don't like the folks who rip off other people. It's kind of a dick move to rip someone off. Those folks tend to do quite well, yes. Th…

I'm with you. It still baffles me how anyone could think that this IPO was about anything but making vulgar amounts of money for Facebook. I guess the label is now more accurate than ever: "...dumb fucks."

What IPO isn't about making money for the company? Only the VC pump-and-dump scams, not anything you want to be part of

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#24
That means the IPO was priced right. Investment bankers used to deliberately priced IPO low to let their favorite clients profited with the popup right off the gate. The companies lost lots of money when their IPO priced low.

Looks like Facebook avoided the problem and got the right price.

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#25
post #24

That means the IPO was priced right. Investment bankers used to deliberately priced IPO low to let their favorite clients profited with the popup right off the gate. The companies lost lots of money when their IPO priced low. Looks like Facebook avoided the problem and got the right price.

It's not all good. Facebook employees are locked up for 3 months right? So the winners here were the VC's and other "preferred stock holders" who were allowed to sell their stock as part of the IPO. And the banks/underwriters who apparently always profit from ipo's even if they are mispriced.

The losers for the most part were retail investors and various funds/traders who believed the banks that the IPO was correctly priced, and probably facebook employees who will have to sell at a lower price now because this botched IPO has sown a lot of distrust in facebook stock.

The goal for an IPO is to correctly price the offering. Usually tech stocks are wildly over-valued and speculated on when they IPO, that doesn't make the banks wrong for setting a reasonable price.

Shrug it's all bullshit anyway. When your talking in the scale of billions of dollars, capitalism can get pretty inefficient. Internet bubbles just highlight the most absurd parts of it. $1B for a 1 month project on iOS(instagram)? $100B for a monopoly on the social graph?(facebook) It makes no sense, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to market inefficiencies and the huge amount of capital some companies have compared to the value they provide to society.

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#26
post #25
post #24

That means the IPO was priced right. Investment bankers used to deliberately priced IPO low to let their favorite clients profited with the popup right off the gate. The companies lost lots of money when their IPO priced low. Looks like Facebook avoided the problem and got the right price.

It's not all good. Facebook employees are locked up for 3 months right? So the winners here were the VC's and other "preferred stock holders" who were allowed to sell their stock as part of the IPO. And the banks/underwriters who apparently always profit from ipo's even if they are mispriced. The losers for the most part were retail investors and various funds/traders who believed the banks that the IPO was correctly…

Well, the main thing is the FB company got a great price on the IPO. The employees etc can be benefited in the long run from the great cash position the company is at.

Re: Facebook IPO Seen Deepening Investor Distrust Of Stocks

#27
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you. It still baffles me how anyone could think that this IPO was about anything but making vulgar amounts of money for Facebook. I guess the label is now more accurate than ever: "...dumb fucks."

What IPO isn't about making money for the company? Only the VC pump-and-dump scams, not anything you want to be part of

Most companies' IPOs don't include going to great lengths to successfully offload far more of their shares at a significantly higher price than the shares could sustain.

There's a big difference between leaving money on the table and riding the hype wave for all its worth. Plenty of room for reasonable compromise.

Post reply on HN