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Facebook Stock Going Public?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the planting-stock-in-moneyville dept.

zmaragdus writes "Facebook Inc. converted its existing stock holdings into different classes of stocks (Class A and Class B) designed to give certain shareholders more power than others. This has been typically done in an IPO of a company's stock to give important people (company founders, for instance) more clout in the actions of the company when stock is first offered to the public. While Facebook maintains that it does not plan to offer stock publicly in the near future, this restructuring is one of the critical steps in doing so."

6 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I like this.

    I enjoy this for another reason.

    This reminds me of the old bubble, where companies who exist merely on advertising go public. Lots of people get hyped about it; eventually everyone realizes that it's a waste of money and the company goes under.

    Hopefully history repeats itself, and like all of the dot-com bubble companies, facebook will be no more.

  2. Re:hmm by Psaakyrn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google also exists merely on advertising, so it isn't always true.

  3. Re:Who needs facebook by Rick+and+Roll · · Score: 5, Funny

    People who want to get laid?

  4. Re:hmm by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You have to realize there are a -lot- of companies that exist mostly on advertising (Google anyone?) and are doing great. The reason why Facebook shouldn't offer public stock is mostly because it can't -do- much. Yeah, it has applications (and this alone will help Facebook make at least enough to break even or make a small profit) but who is going to pay for a crappy web application? A few people might buy some "limited edition" items in Farmville, but who is going to pay for access to Farmville (and that is about the only way that Facebook itself could get a cut of the funds) itself? Facebook has a lot of data, but selling that data would run afoul of some privacy laws and give Facebook lots of bad press. Facebook users have also all united against paying for it, the fact that it is web based means that if they charged for Facebook Mobile a third-party application could arise. Facebook can improve a lot, it is notoriously unreliable, chat only works half the time, and other features randomly break. But as for branching out in multiple areas like Google has done, I don't think Facebook can do that.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  5. Re:hmm by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Once it's a public company, it has a fiduciary responsibility to bend its users over to try and get as much money for its shareholders as it can.

    Here's an interesting thing they could think of. Ask users to pay a small monthly fee to see who views their profiles. Sure, it'll drive a lot of people off the site, but Facebook is so ingrained in the lives of a certain demographic that it would feed of insecurities and fears and certainly generate a decent monthly revenue. The same insecurities and fears would ensure that a user pool never disappears, since getting off Facebook would deprive you of OMG! why is Sheila dressed like a tramp!??

    --
    An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
  6. They are trying to go public by GWBasic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Facebook is trying to go public. About a month ago, one of their recruiters was trying to get me to sign an NDA for an on-site interview; and he refereed to their impending IPO as the justification for the NDA.

    I didn't sign the NDA.

    --
    No, I will not work for your startup