Forum Post: The 99% is shut out of the Facebook IPO
Posted 11 years ago on May 18, 2012, 10:51 a.m. EST by TechJunkie
(3029)
from Miami Beach, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
(Reuters) - A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a hot deal handled by Wall Street. The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any.
At stake may well be the chance to cash in on a big pop in the shares -- some in the market expect a gain of 50 percent or more -- when they start trading on Friday.
"This is worse than not scoring an invitation to the best party in high school," said Fran Carpentier, 57, a publishing and marketing consultant in New York City who wanted to get in on the social media company's IPO but could not figure out how.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/net-us-facebook-ipo-smallinvestors-idUSBRE84G1E820120518
The only product FB sells is it's 'loyal fans'.
Facebook sued for $15 billion over alleged privacy infractions
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57437060-93/facebook-sued-for-$15-billion-over-alleged-privacy-infractions/?Media
Nowhere does Facebook terms and conditions say that 'loyal fans' of facebook would get a preference in the IPO. When did it become necessary that the loyal fans of a company's product should get prefence in it's IPO? Did users of Apple I and II get any preference back in the days of the Apple IPO? Did users of MS-DOS get preference in Microsoft's IPO? Did fans of Farmville get preference in Zynga IPO? If you play angry birds, why did you not complain during the Rovio IPO? What about Linkedin IPO?
I am sure you love chocolate, but are you a investor in Cadbury or Nestle? You probably use a lot of P&G products but I doubt if you hold any P&G shares, then WHY FACEBOOK?
Is it because it's big and you have heard that they are gonna make a lot of money? Why is it that occutards always line up whereever there is money and want a share in it, whether or not they deserve it and bitch about it when they dont?
Besides, investors in FB are taking a good amount of risk in this investment. A few recent tech IPOs have gone bad (Groupon etc) and there is a good possibility that the share prices may drop after the initial IPO rush. Then a lot of investors would lose money and they are fine with the risk. These investors would not try to 'occupy facebook' if they lose money. You want the upside but then you would complain about the downside.
Finally, if you are so interested in FB shares, you could have gotten in touch with a fund that is investing in it and who is a client of one of those Wall St firms handling the IPO. You would not have to be a 1% to be able to do that.
Thank God at least we didn't get suckered, the game has moved over our heads.