Facebook Shares Slide Nearly 12% To $33.76 On Second Trading Day After IPO

Facebook shares dropped nearly 12 percent to $33.76 — below the company’s final $38 price in the company’s highly anticipated initial public offering last week. Today is an interesting test for Facebook’s worth because the company’s shares will no longer be supported as heavily by the IPO’s lead underwriter Morgan Stanley.

Facebook’s performance today may further stoke the debate over whether its IPO was priced well. To save face on Friday, Morgan Stanley had to step in to make sure that Facebook shares didn’t close below their opening price. There were also irregularities in trading on NASDAQ as some buyers had to wait hours to know whether their orders had been filled. The company’s market cap is now around $92.7 billion, down from the $104 billion valuation the company opened with last week.

Facebook sets IPO share price, now worth $104 billion

The shares, priced at $38 (£24) a pop, will go on sale on the Nasdaq exchange, giving you a chance to own a piece of the social network. The news means that Facebook will raise some $16bn to invest in making the site even better and makes it one of the biggest stock market launches in American history.

"Facebook today announced the pricing of its initial public offering [IPO] of 421,233,615 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $38 per share," a company statement said.

"The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 18, 2012, under the symbol 'FB'.