Today was all about Facebook’s rather dismal market debut. From screw-ups with 2-hour delayed confirmations from the NASDAQ out of the gate to the syndicated underwriters intervening at the offering price of 38, what they accomplished at least for today was an interventionist floor placed under the market at the 38 bid. If they lose the floor, say hello to Facebook at $31 dollars per share.
All seemed fine in the first five minutes of trade as the social media giant surged toward $45 per share. Within 15-minutes however, the ballyhooed debutant of IPO’s crashed back down to earth or the level at which the syndicated underwriters began to support the price at any cost.
With a floor of confidence held at 38, things seemed to get back in favor of an upbeat debut as the new issue crawled back above 40. All told by the end of the session, Facebook underwriters found themselves once again defending the shares at $38.
Granted, timing to launch this IPO was not great as the general market has been in a funk for a couple of weeks now. Nonetheless, participants in a small sense were relying upon the mighty Facebook to get the market out of its funk. Instead, Mark Zuckerburg and company joined right in with their own brand of market funkadelics.
As for those following “the Pilot” today’s balance sheet for May leaves us with nothing but smiles.
Until next time,