Facebook, Ipo | featured news

Nasdaq OMX and SharesPost will join to create a new exchange that will allow accredited investors to buy private-company shares. The move reflects the competition and new landscape these market-makers face--particularly whether interest in pre-IPO stocks will fade now that Facebook shares trade publicly.

Massachusetts' securities regulator fined Morgan Stanley $5 million over its handling of Facebook's IPO, saying investment bankers had "improper influence" over the research analysts covering Facebook.

Foursquare is having troubles convincing investors that its valuation shouldn't shrink, a sign of a cooling toward social media startups in the wake of Facebook's messy initial public offering.

Tech investors are sidling up to the bar again after the "Facebook hangover," only this time they are minding their P's and Q's. "In a sense, the tech IPOs are back," said Francis Gaskins, president of IPODesktop.com. Only seven tech or Internet companies have gone public since Facebook's IPO; by comparison, Gaskins said now there are 20 technology companies in the IPO pipeline. The difference is that the offerings are smaller and priced to lure institutional investors rather than emotion-driven retail investors.

UBS decried a proposal from Nasdaq to make up losses for firms damaged in the Facebook stock-market debut, joining a growing chorus of Wall Street players that are calling on regulators to reject the exchange operator's plan.

Facebook's beleaguered stock has lost more than half of its value since its initial public offering three months ago. Facebook Inc. hit a new low of $18.75 before bouncing back to $19.01 - down 4 cents - in morning trading Monday. The social networking icon's much-anticipated IPO turned sour amid technical problems on the NASDAQ stock market and high expectations. The stock has not surpassed its $38 IPO price since its first trading day.

Facebook’s stock price reached a new low Thursday as shares of the world's largest social network fell below $20 for the first time, down by nearly half from its $38 initial public offering price.

Facebook is set to file a motion to consolidate all the shareholder lawsuits against the social network site, and is expected to place some blame on the Nasdaq for its botched IPO when it files the motion, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Facebook went public last month on its prospects for growth. But in some areas, the social network's growth rates are already maturing. In particular, Facebook's user growth rate in the U.S. is slowing sharply. In April, U.S. unique visitors to the website increased to 158 million, up just 5% from a year earlier, according to research firm comScore Inc.

It’s been over three weeks since Facebook launched its $16 billion IPO, and as you’ve heard by now, it’s belly flopping on the NASDAQ. Wall Street and Silicon Valley VCs are in an uproar over the company's 30-percent stock decline and $25 share value, with some shareholders already looking to recoup their loses by suing CEO Mark Zuckerberg for withholding info on the company’s true value during its public outing.