Facebook IPO

moondoggy23

moondoggy23

Well-Known Member
As many may know, Facebook went public in the US stock market on Friday with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of about $38/share. Throughout the day, the stock price did increase to close to $45/share, but then began to fall again down to it's original opening price. Many people thought that the Facebook IPO would be a huge success, but it seems that it's opening day numbers were rather unenthusiastic, being supported at it's $38/share by several underwriters of the IPO. Before the markets here in the US open, there are several sources saying that the true value of Facebook will be determined today, and that it is going to be far shorter than what was originially expected.

I kind of half-expected something like this to happen with Facebook on their IPO. As a company, they're doing well enough, especially since they have almost 1billion registered users to get profit from. I've heard that this can be a double-edged sword for Facebook now. Becoming a publicly owned company means that user information is even more susceptible to corporate data mining, which can result in more direct, personalized ads for each user, but also become an issue with privacy rights.

Any thoughts or comments on the issue?
 
NewspaperCrane

NewspaperCrane

Well-Known Member
I worry about pressure from stockholders for profits. Zuckerberg also doesn't strike me as a "Dividends" kind of guy, which will likely effect the price in the long run.
 
rsmv2you

rsmv2you

Well-Known Member
The stockholders might cause some trouble in this but the one problem I think facebook has is it keeping the status of the "biggest social networking site". I think sooner or later facebook is going to become a passing fad and facebook profits will decrease and users will move onto other media sties. It happened to myspace when people said it wouldn't, and people thought video sharing sites that already existed before youtube would still dominate it. I think facebook is going to be a passing fad by the time any of these advertising privacy rights become a major problem but they will be a problem for the people that will still use it.
 
Melexiious

Melexiious

Well-Known Member
NewspaperCrane said:
And for the record: You already have personalized ads. Facebook Datamines the fuck out of everything.
Click to expand...
That is true, The ads I seem to stumble across from often do represent some of my interests.

Although apparently some of my interests include adopting children and 9/11 memorial services, eh. They can't be 100% perfectly aimed at me I guess.
 
moondoggy23

moondoggy23

Well-Known Member
rsmv2you said:
The stockholders might cause some trouble in this but the one problem I think facebook has is it keeping the status of the "biggest social networking site". I think sooner or later facebook is going to become a passing fad and facebook profits will decrease and users will move onto other media sties. It happened to myspace when people said it wouldn't, and people thought video sharing sites that already existed before youtube would still dominate it. I think facebook is going to be a passing fad by the time any of these advertising privacy rights become a major problem but they will be a problem for the people that will still use it.
Click to expand...

Unless Facebook can stay ahead of the curve, they will eventually fade into the ether like other dotcoms have in the past. As a publicly-owned company, they are going to be more concerned with the bottom dollar than before, which may turn off a lot of users, since any new features that will be added may only be accessed through a fee, or maybe a "premium" account (granted, this is purely speculation). It's going to be hard for Facebook to keep the same model it has been running on without making some changes to earn more profits.
 
NewspaperCrane

NewspaperCrane

Well-Known Member
rsmv2you said:
The stockholders might cause some trouble in this but the one problem I think facebook has is it keeping the status of the "biggest social networking site". I think sooner or later facebook is going to become a passing fad and facebook profits will decrease and users will move onto other media sties. It happened to myspace when people said it wouldn't, and people thought video sharing sites that already existed before youtube would still dominate it. I think facebook is going to be a passing fad by the time any of these advertising privacy rights become a major problem but they will be a problem for the people that will still use it.
Click to expand...
I'm still on the fence about this.

While the internet is fleeting: websites come and go. The websites which were popular ten years ago, are generally not anymore. At the same time, I feel like Facebook is different from your average website. Especially since it's many people's first foray into the internet. I finally got my mother to figure out how to use facebook, and I'll be damned if I teach her something else. Though really she is to the point where she could probably figure something else out, she chooses not to.

Facebook has done a fantastic job of fighting what myspace couldn't: change. It may not feel like it, but facebook is always on top of change well before it happens. The decisions it makes are typically very wise. Let's look at the latest major change: Timeline. A lot of people didn't like timeline... or at least they thought they didn't. But what does it really effect? It takes your wall and instead of it being a chronological list of statuses and things that you've liked... it's a chronological list of statuses and things that you liked which is easier to navigate... chronologically. It also highlights major life events i.e. Graduation, and is really more focused on looking back. It's definitely more oriented towards older people than at teenagers. Has the change really effected anything? No. We all still use facebook the same way we did before it came about.

I guess what I'm getting to here is that Facebook has made very intelligent business decisions over the years, it does things carefully and not without thinking first. Zuckerberg is a dangerous kind of person: a genius with a passion for technology and a business sense. It's hard not to compare him to Bill Gates.

Let's just hope, for his stockholder's sake that he's got something up his sleeve to grow facebook's revenue even more in the future. Investors want to see growth, they don't want to see it remain stagnant.

I also pray that with facebook's IPO Zuckerberg continues to do the one thing he seems to be the best at: Ignoring everyone else's opinion and doing what he wants to. That's probably the reason I wouldn't touch Facebook stock with a ten foot pole. Zuckerberg won't give a shit about his stockholders.
 
quazymoodo

quazymoodo

Well-Known Member
Zuckerberg. Give us ur moneh to pay off our debts.

After all, your product is the the reason for massive phone bills.
 
moondoggy23

moondoggy23

Well-Known Member
NewspaperCrane said:
I also pray that with facebook's IPO Zuckerberg continues to do the one thing he seems to be the best at: Ignoring everyone else's opinion and doing what he wants to. That's probably the reason I wouldn't touch Facebook stock with a ten foot pole. Zuckerberg won't give a shit about his stockholders.
Click to expand...

As long as what Zuckerberg does with Facebook from here on out continues to earn stockholders money, they shouldn't have any problem with how it's being run. I would be concerned about someone with that type of personality at the helm of such a large company, since any type of mistake could result in a significant loss in revenue.

I don't think Facebook stock is going to be a very good investment choice at this time. It's a little over-priced, and since it already has such a saturated user base, it may be difficult for it to pick up new users and therefore get increased revenue streams. It may begin to branch out into other areas, aside from "Social Networking," but no one really knows.

Also, their stock price has fallen almost 11% since trading began this morning, which isn't too terribly much, but still.
 
NewspaperCrane

NewspaperCrane

Well-Known Member
shadowwolf said:
wwwhhhhaaaa?!?!
Click to expand...
myspace.PNG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top