Facebook records largest tech IPO in US history with USD 38 per share one day before the launch

2012-05-18 14:02:16

Before the long-awaited IPO of  facebook, scheduled to be launched today on Nasdaq, the company   has priced its shares at USD 38 per share and will raise USD 16 billion, the company confirmed yesterday. Following this price,  Facebook’s valuation is USD 104 billion but the  value is estimated to grow largely. The company’s initial pricing option was estimated at a range between USD 28 and USD 35 per share but the raised price show the extremely strong demand for the offering, which will be the largest tech IPO in American history in terms of the amount of money it raises. Within this IPO, Facebook plans to sell  337.4 million shares, added 84 million shares to its offering on Wednesday. The eleventh-hour maneuver — shares were pooled together from Facebook investors — means that Facebook will sell 421.2 million shares through its offering, and that Zuckerberg’s voting power has been reduced to 55.8 percent. Of that pool, 180,000,000 of the shares will be Facebook’s, so the company itself will get about USD 6.8 billion from the transaction. The rest of the shares are being sold by current Facebook shareholders, according to an analysis.
According to a press release of Facebook published yesterday, in addition, Facebook and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 63,185,042 additional shares of Class A common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.  Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Allen & Company LLC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities are serving as book runners for the offering. RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as active co-managers.