Technology, Facebook Ipo | featured news

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.

Citigroup fired Internet stock analyst Mark Mahaney amid accusations he leaked confidential information about Facebook's IPO.

Massachusetts fined Citigroup $2 million to settle charges that two bank analysts improperly released confidential information about Facebook's financials before the technology company went public.

Steve Jobs' passing has left the world without a guru-like figure who can get the world talking about tech, albeit Apple tech. Tim Cook is stage-shy, Bill Gates is no longer the force he once was (he appears to be more interested in finding ways to save the world) and Mark Zuckerberg is too caught up in the Facebook IPO debacle. Step forward Will.i.am and Simon Cowell, who believe they can stir tech passions with an The X Factor-style show.

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.

With the value of its shares down over 50 percent since its highly anticipated IPO, is the company making a hash of the public relations disaster it is now facing; and, just as important, why has Zuckerberg remained quiet about the state of the company?

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 Inc shares sank as much 4.3 percent on Friday to set a new low, a day after early investors got the green light to sell for the first time. More than 270 million shares owned by the early investors became available for trade on Thursday after a 3-month curb on sales ended. That's more than one-half the 421 million shares sold in its initial public offering on May 18.