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102-466: For years, Facebook and Zuckerberg resisted both buyouts and taking the company public. The main reason that the company decided to go public is because it crossed the threshold of 500 shareholders, according to Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon. Facebook reportedly turned down a $ 750 million offer from Viacom in 2006. That same year, Yahoo! attempted to buy the company for $ 1 billion but Zuckerberg refused. Also that year, BusinessWeek reported

204-423: A Facebook post, stating that the lawsuits were a good faith effort to pay the partial owners of the land their "fair share". When he learned that Hawaiian land ownership law differs from that of the other 49 states, he dropped the lawsuits. Zuckerberg stated that he regretted not taking the time to understand the process and its history before moving ahead. On April 10 and 11, 2018, Zuckerberg testified before

306-415: A "good guy". The film is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich , which the book's publicist once described as "big juicy fun" rather than "reportage". The film's screenwriter Aaron Sorkin told New York magazine , "I don't want my fidelity to be the truth; I want it to be storytelling", adding, "What is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy's sake, and can we not have

408-508: A "reputation as a programming prodigy". He studied psychology and computer science , resided in Kirkland House , and belonged to Alpha Epsilon Pi . In his second year, he wrote a program that he called CourseMatch, which allowed users to make class selection decisions based on the choices of other students and help them form study groups. Later, he created a different program he initially called Facemash that let students select

510-530: A $ 2 billion valuation for the company. Facebook did accept investments from companies, and these investments suggested fluctuating valuations for the firm. In 2007 Microsoft beat out Google to purchase a 1.6% stake for $ 240 million, giving Facebook a notional value of $ 15 billion at the time. Microsoft purchased preferred stock , which meant that the company's actual valuation would be considerably lower than $ 15 billion. Meanwhile, that valuation dropped to $ 10 billion in 2009, when Digital Sky Technologies bought

612-461: A 50% or better increase on the first day would be seen positively; "anything under that would be underwhelming." Lee Simmons of Dun & Bradstreet predicted more modest first-day gains, in the range of 10 to 20%. No analysts Reuters interviewed projected a first-day decrease. Others were less optimistic. Much of Wall Street expressed concerns over what it saw as a high valuation. Citing the price-to-earnings ratio of 108 for 2011, critics stated that

714-670: A January 2024 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child safety and social media platforms, Zuckerberg, along with other tech CEOs, were questioned about their companies' practices. During the hearing, he apologized to the families of children who were victims of online abuse and harm. Court documents allege that Zuckerberg personally rejected Meta's proposals to improve teenagers' mental health. He consistently opposed efforts to enhance well-being on Facebook and Instagram, overriding senior executives such as Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Global Affairs President Nick Clegg , as revealed in an ongoing lawsuit. Internal communications disclosed in

816-487: A full 16 months later. Price targets for the new stock ranged considerably. On June 4, seven of fifteen analysts polled by FactSet Research suggested prices above the stock's price, effectively advising a "buy." Four of fifteen suggested a "hold," while another four of fifteen suggested "sell." Sanford Bernstein was the lowest of the group, pegging the stock at $ 25. On December 11, 2013, Standard & Poor's announced that Facebook would join its S&P 500 index "after

918-619: A joint venture with SharesPost. In October 2015 NASDAQ took full ownership of NASDAQ Private Market. Prior to using the name SecondMarket the company was known as Restricted Stock Partners, Inc. SecondMarket was founded in 2004 by Barry Silbert to provide liquidity for restricted securities in public companies. Beginning in early 2008, SecondMarket expanded into other asset classes—first auction‐rate securities , then bankruptcy claims , limited partnership interests, structured products ( MBS , CDO , ABS ), whole loans , private company stock , government IOUs and bitcoins . In 2007,

1020-548: A lawsuit in 2004; it was dismissed on a technicality on March 28, 2007. It was refiled soon thereafter in a federal court in Boston . Facebook countersued in regards to Social Butterfly, a project put out by The Winklevoss Chang Group , an alleged partnership between ConnectU and i2hub . On June 25, 2008, the case settled and Facebook agreed to transfer over 1.2 million common shares and pay $ 20 million in cash. In November 2007, confidential court documents were posted on

1122-502: A live Q&A session at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park on December 11, 2014. The founder and CEO explained that he does not believe Facebook is a waste of time, because it facilitates social engagement, and participating in a public session was so that he could "learn how to better serve the community". Zuckerberg receives a one-dollar salary as CEO of Facebook. In June 2016, Business Insider named Zuckerberg one of

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1224-476: A nearly 2% stake for $ 200 million - a larger stake than Microsoft had purchased at a lower price. An investment report in 2011 valued the company at $ 50 billion. Zuckerberg wanted to wait to conduct an initial public offering, saying in 2010 that "we are definitely in no rush." But since by 2012 Facebook had more than 500 round lot (over 100 shares) stockholders, Facebook was subject to the SEC disclosure rules starting

1326-456: A ranking. The site went up over a weekend, but by Monday morning, the college shut it down, because its popularity had overwhelmed one of Harvard's network switches preventing students from accessing the Internet. In addition, many students complained that their photos were being used without permission. Zuckerberg apologized publicly, and the student paper ran articles stating that his site

1428-715: A relatively high offering price. Ultimately underwriters settled on a price of $ 38 per share, at the top of its target range. This price valued the company at $ 104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly public company. On May 16, two days before the IPO, Facebook announced that it would sell 25% more shares than originally planned due to high demand. This meant the stock would debut with 421 million shares. The Facebook IPO brought inevitable comparisons with other technology company offerings. Some investors expressed keen interest in Facebook because they felt they had missed out on

1530-515: A reporter that Ceglia's counsel had unsuccessfully sought an out-of-court settlement. On October 26, 2012, federal authorities arrested Ceglia, charging him with mail and wire fraud and of "tampering with, destroying and fabricating evidence in a scheme to defraud the Facebook founder of billions of dollars". Ceglia is accused of fabricating emails to make it appear that he and Zuckerberg discussed details about an early version of Facebook, although after examining their emails, investigators found there

1632-651: A socially inept nerd is overstated ... It is fiction ...". He likewise dismissed the film's assertion that he "would deliberately betray a friend". Zuckerberg voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons titled " Loan-a Lisa ", which first aired on October 3, 2010. In the episode, Lisa Simpson and her friend Nelson encounter Zuckerberg at an entrepreneurs' convention. Zuckerberg tells Lisa that she does not need to graduate from college to be wildly successful, referencing Bill Gates and Richard Branson as examples. On October 9, 2010, Saturday Night Live lampooned Zuckerberg and Facebook. Andy Samberg portrayed

1734-423: A surprise guest appearance on Saturday Night Live , which was hosted by Jesse Eisenberg. They both said it was the first time they had met. Eisenberg asked Zuckerberg, who had been critical of his portrayal by the film, what he thought of the movie. Zuckerberg replied, "It was interesting." In a subsequent interview about their meeting, Eisenberg explained that he was "nervous to meet him, because I had spent now,

1836-588: A valuation of about US$ 150 million set in the previous round in February 2010. The World Economic Forum listed the company as a Technology Pioneer for 2011. The firm's private-company transactions totaled $ 100 million in 2009, and $ 400 million in 2010. SecondMarket takes fees from 3 to 5 percent on each trade (split evenly between buyer and seller). In March 2011, it had 53,000 registered participants, up from 35,000 in 2010, 6,500 in 2009 and 2,500 in 2008. In 2015, NASDAQ acquired Second Market Solutions, which

1938-477: A year and a half thinking about him ...". He added, "Mark has been so gracious about something that's really so uncomfortable ... The fact that he would do SNL and make fun of the situation is so sweet and so generous. It's the best possible way to handle something that, I think, could otherwise be very uncomfortable." According to David Kirkpatrick , former technology editor at Fortune magazine and author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of

2040-412: Is a board member of the solar sail spacecraft development project Breakthrough Starshot , which he co-founded with Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking in 2016. Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss , Tyler Winklevoss , and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally making them believe he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com (later called ConnectU ). They filed

2142-427: Is believed that adjustments to earnings estimates were communicated to the underwriters by a Facebook financial officer, who in turn used the information to cash out on their positions while leaving the general public with overpriced shares. Additionally, a class-action lawsuit is being prepared due to the trading glitches, which led to botched orders. Apparently, the glitches prevented a number of investors from selling

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2244-669: Is intertwined with the aim of the Internet.org project, whereby Facebook, with the support of other technology companies, seeks to increase the number of people connected to the internet. Zuckerberg was the keynote speaker at the 2014 Mobile World Congress (MWC), held in Barcelona , Spain, in March 2014, which was attended by 75,000 delegates. Various media sources highlighted the connection between Facebook's focus on mobile technology and Zuckerberg's speech, stating that mobile represents

2346-512: Is just not an attractive idea to me." The same year, speaking at Y Combinator 's Startup School course at Stanford University , Zuckerberg made a controversial assertion that "young people are just smarter" and that other entrepreneurs should bias towards hiring young people. He restated these goals to Wired magazine in 2010, "The thing I really care about is the mission, making the world open." Earlier, in April 2009, Zuckerberg had sought

2448-414: Is no longer the case. Facebook employees had been finding private buyers to unload their shares as early as 2007, and when SharesPost launched in 2009, early employees started exiting en masse. Class B shares of Facebook traded as high as $ 44.50/share ($ 46.30/share after commissions) on SharesPost prior to the IPO. The reputation of both Morgan Stanley, the primary IPO underwriter, and NASDAQ were damaged in

2550-593: Is now under investigation and has been compared to pump and dump schemes. Government officials called for investigations in the following weeks. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Chairman Rick Ketchum called for a review of the circumstances surrounding the troubled IPO. On 22 May, regulators from Wall Street 's Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that they had begun to investigate whether banks underwriting Facebook had improperly shared information only with select clients, rather than

2652-424: Is something that other banks will be able to use against them when competing for deals." Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg ( / ˈ z ʌ k ər b ɜːr ɡ / ; born May 14, 1984) is an American businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms , of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder. Zuckerberg has been

2754-486: Is that you can build something really good in a night", Zuckerberg told Levy. "And that's part of the personality of Facebook now ... It's definitely very core to my personality." In 2007, Zuckerberg was added to MIT Technology Review 's TR35 list as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. Vanity Fair magazine named Zuckerberg number 1 on its 2010 list of the Top 100 "most influential people of

2856-934: The Information Age ". Zuckerberg ranked number 23 on the Vanity Fair 100 list in 2009. In 2010, Zuckerberg was chosen as number 16 in New Statesman ' s annual survey of the world's 50 most influential figures. In a 2011 interview with PBS shortly after the death of Steve Jobs , Zuckerberg said that Jobs had advised him on how to create a management team at Facebook that was "focused on building as high quality and good things as you are". On October 1, 2012, Zuckerberg met with then Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow to stimulate social media innovation in Russia and to boost Facebook's position in

2958-559: The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding the usage of personal data by Facebook in relation to the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal . He called the whole affair a breach of trust between Aleksandr Kogan , Cambridge Analytica , and Facebook. Zuckerberg refused requests to appear to give evidence on the matter to a Parliamentary committee in

3060-541: The world's wealthiest individuals . He has also used his funds to organize multiple donations, including the establishment of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative . A film depicting Zuckerberg's early career, legal troubles and initial success with Facebook, The Social Network , was released in 2010 and won multiple Academy Awards . His prominence and fast rise in the technology industry has prompted political and legal attention. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg

3162-634: The "Top 10 Business Visionaries Creating Value for the World" along with Elon Musk and Sal Khan , due to the fact that he and his wife "pledged to give away 99% of their wealth-then estimated at $ 55.0 billion". On May 25, 2017, at Harvard's 366th commencement day, Zuckerberg, after giving a commencement speech , received an honorary degree from Harvard. In January 2019, Zuckerberg laid plans to integrate an end-to-end encrypted system for three major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp . On August 14, 2020, Facebook integrated

Initial public offering of Facebook - Misplaced Pages Continue

3264-488: The "mythical place" of Silicon Valley , the center of computer technology in California. They had already turned down offers by major corporations to buy the company. In an interview in 2007, Zuckerberg explained his reasoning: "It's not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues, the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates

3366-461: The Company that is Connecting the World (2011), "the film is only 40% true ... he is not snide and sarcastic in a cruel way, the way Zuckerberg is played in the movie." He says that "a lot of the factual incidents are accurate, but many are distorted and the overall impression is false", and concludes that primarily "his motivations were to try and come up with a new way to share information on

3468-527: The Computer Revolution , wrote that Zuckerberg "clearly thinks of himself as a hacker ". Zuckerberg said that "it's OK to break things" "to make them better". Facebook instituted " hackathons " held every six to eight weeks where participants would have one night to conceive of and complete a project. The company provided music, food, and beer at the hackathons, and many Facebook staff members, including Zuckerberg, regularly attended. "The idea

3570-460: The IPO a "fiasco." The stock closed its second full week of trading on June 1 at $ 27.72. By June 6 investors had lost $ 40 billion. Facebook ended its third full week at $ 27.10, slightly lower than a week previous. The stock stayed below the $ 38 mark for months and finally bottomed out in September 2012 below $ 18. The shares did not get back to the initial $ 38 again until August the following year,

3672-463: The IPO in May - but this was in a largely illiquid market, with less than 120 trades each quarter during 2010 and 2011. "Valuations in the private market are going to make it 'difficult to go public'", according to Mary Meeker , an American venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst. Prior to the IPO, several investors set price targets for the company. On May 14, before the offering price

3774-586: The IPO indicated that several such investors were interested in selling their shares of the company. Accel Partners planned to offload as many as 28% of their shares, while Goldman Sachs was ready to sell up to 50% of theirs. Rolfe Winkler of the Wall Street Journal suggested that, given insider worries, the public should avoid snapping up the stock. Facebook employees were less concerned, with Mark Zuckerberg planning to sell just 6%. Striking an optimistic tone, The New York Times predicted that

3876-471: The IPO price and down $ 3.82 from the opening bell value. The opening was widely described by the financial press as a disappointment. Despite technical problems and a relatively low closing value, the stock set a new record for trading volume of an IPO (460 million shares). The IPO also ended up raising $ 16 billion, making it the third largest in U.S. history (just ahead of AT&T Wireless and behind only General Motors and Visa Inc. ). The stock price left

3978-404: The Internet". Although the film portrayed Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook in order to elevate his stature after not getting into any of the elite final clubs at Harvard, Zuckerberg stated that he had no interest in joining the clubs. Kirkpatrick agreed that the impression implied by the film is "false". Karel Baloun, a former senior engineer at Facebook, noted that the "image of Zuckerberg as

4080-476: The Massachusetts-initiated legal action depict Zuckerberg's resistance to better protect over 30 million teens on Instagram in the U.S., highlighting his substantial influence on Meta's decisions impacting billions of users. These documents also shed light on occasional tensions between Zuckerberg and other Meta officials advocating for improved user well-being. A movie based on Zuckerberg and

4182-466: The Russian market. Russia's communications minister tweeted that Medvedev persuaded Zuckerberg to open a research center in Moscow instead of trying to lure away Russian programmers. In 2012, Facebook had roughly 9 million users in Russia, while domestic clone VK had around 34 million. Rebecca Van Dyck, Facebook's head of consumer marketing, said that 85 million American Facebook users were exposed to

Initial public offering of Facebook - Misplaced Pages Continue

4284-492: The US Capitol Building , and its efforts to combat misinformation and hate speech. Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook had a responsibility to address these issues and outlined the steps that the company is taking to improve its policies and practices. The hearing was part of a broader effort by Congress to hold tech companies accountable for their role in shaping public discourse and protecting user privacy. In

4386-688: The United Kingdom. On October 1, 2020, the US Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted to issue subpoenas to the CEOs of three top tech firms, including Zuckerberg, Google 's Sundar Pichai and Twitter 's Jack Dorsey . The subpoenas aimed to force the CEOs to testify about the legal immunity the law affords tech platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. US Republicans argued that

4488-405: The advice of former Netscape CFO Peter Currie regarding financing strategies for Facebook. On July 21, 2010, Zuckerberg reported that Facebook had reached the 500-million-user mark. When asked whether Facebook could earn more income from advertising as a result of its phenomenal growth, he explained: I guess we could ... If you look at how much of our page is taken up with ads compared to

4590-408: The average search query. The average for us is a little less than 10 percent of the pages and the average for search is about 20 percent taken up with ads ... That's the simplest thing we could do. But we aren't like that. We make enough money. Right, I mean, we are keeping things running; we are growing at the rate we want to. In 2010, Steven Levy , who wrote the 1984 book Hackers: Heroes of

4692-410: The best-looking person from a choice of photos. Arie Hasit, Zuckerberg's roommate at the time, explained: We had books called "Face Books", which included the names and pictures of everyone who lived in the student dorms. At first, he built a site and placed two pictures or pictures of two males and two females. Visitors to the site had to choose who was "hotter" and according to the votes there would be

4794-410: The chat systems for Instagram and Messenger on both iOS and Android devices. The update encouraged cross-communication between Instagram and Facebook users. A month after Zuckerberg launched Facebook in February 2004, i2hub , another campus-only service, created by Wayne Chang and focusing on peer-to-peer file sharing, was launched. At the time, both i2hub and Facebook were gaining the attention of

4896-585: The close of trading on December 20," Reuters reported. The IPO had immediate impacts on the stock market. Other technology companies took hits, while the exchanges as a whole saw dampened prices. Investment firms faced considerable losses due to technical glitches. Bloomberg estimated that retail investors may have lost approximately $ 630 million on Facebook stock since its debut. UBS alone may have lost as much as $ 350 million. The Nasdaq stock exchange offered $ 40 million to investment firms plagued by offering-day computer glitches. While considerably higher than

4998-836: The collateralized debt obligation (CDO) and mortgage-backed security (MBS) markets. Launched in April 2009, SecondMarket's whole loans market facilitates transactions in residential, commercial and specialty loan types. SecondMarket transacts in both performing and non-performing individual loans as well as entire loan portfolios. SecondMarket's market for stock in private companies opened in April 2009 and facilitates transactions in both debt and equity securities in private companies. Through SecondMarket, private companies can opt into an organized, controlled private environment that offers early investors and employee shareholders exit opportunity prior to an IPO or M&A event. SecondMarket's government warrant market facilitates transactions in registered warrants (IOUs) issued by state governments. When

5100-401: The company could improve advertising. Yet such efforts could undermine user privacy. Also, some advertisers expressed concern over the value of the advertisements they purchased on Facebook. General Motors announced it would pull its $ 10 million campaign from the social network just days before the IPO. The automobile company asked for "bigger, flashier" advertisements but Facebook refused. In

5202-402: The company itself. It was said to provide healthy rewards for venture capitalists who finally saw the fruits of their labor. In contrast, it was said to negatively affect individual investors such as Facebook employees, who saw once-valuable shares become less lucrative. More generally, the disappointing IPO was said to lower interest in the stock by investors. That would make it more difficult for

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5304-480: The company raised an undisclosed amount of Series A financing from venture capital firm Pequot Ventures . In February 2010, the company raised US$ 15 million in Series B funding to aid its expansion into Asia. In November 2011, the company announced that they had closed a US$ 15 million Series C round, led by The Social+Capital Partnership . The last round of investment valued SecondMarket at US$ 200 million, up from

5406-421: The company to accumulate cash reserves for large future expenditures such as acquisitions. CBS News said "the Facebook brand takes a pretty big hit for this," mostly because of the public interest that had surrounded the offering. Some suggested implications for companies other than Facebook specifically. The IPO could jeopardize profits for underwriters who face investors skeptical of the technology industry. In

5508-469: The company with a higher market capitalization than all but a few U.S. corporations – surpassing heavyweights such as Amazon.com , McDonald's , Disney , and Kraft Foods – and made Zuckerberg's stock worth $ 19 billion. Facebook's share value fell during nine of the next thirteen trading days, posting gains during just four. The next day of trading after the IPO (May 21), the stock closed below its offering price, at $ 34.03. The stock saw another large loss

5610-478: The company would have to undergo "almost ridiculous financial growth [for the valuation] to make sense." Other companies trade at far lower ratios, although there are notable exceptions. Writers at TechCrunch expressed similar skepticism, stating, "That's a big multiple to live up to, and [Facebook] will likely need to add bold new revenue streams to justify the mammoth valuation". Early investors themselves were said to express similar skepticism. Warning signs before

5712-410: The company's increases in membership, as well as its incomes, were slowing and that the deceleration was likely to continue. To ensure that early investors would retain control of the company, Facebook in 2009 instituted a dual-class stock structure. After the IPO, Zuckerberg was to retain a 22% ownership share in Facebook and was to own 57% of the voting shares. The document also stated that the company

5814-649: The enforcement of China's online policy, at Facebook's headquarters on December 8, 2014. The meeting occurred after Zuckerberg participated in a Q&A session at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, on October 23, 2014, where he conversed in Mandarin Chinese ; although Facebook is banned in China, Zuckerberg is highly regarded among the people and was at the university to help fuel the nation's burgeoning entrepreneur sector. Zuckerberg fielded questions during

5916-413: The fallout from the botched offering. In interviews with the media, bankers seemed sanguine about the outcome. "We think Morgan has done pretty well on the deal," one person at a bank that was one of Facebook's other underwriters told CNN Money. "Reputation of the bank aside, Facebook hasn't been a bad trade for Morgan." This is because even as the share prices dropped Morgan "racked up big profits" trading

6018-509: The first day of the Home promotional campaign on April 6, 2013. On August 19, 2013, The Washington Post reported that Zuckerberg's Facebook profile was hacked by an unemployed web developer. At the 2013 TechCrunch Disrupt conference, held in September, Zuckerberg stated that he was working towards registering the 5 billion people who were not connected to the Internet as of the conference on Facebook. Zuckerberg then explained that this

6120-512: The five billion people without it as of the launch date. The project faced significant opposition in India, where activists said its limited internet ran counter to the principle of net neutrality ; Zuckerberg responded by saying that a limited internet was better than no internet. Internet.org was shut down in India in February 2016, although Zuckerberg later met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss further possibilities. Zuckerberg

6222-456: The founding years of Facebook, The Social Network , was released on October 1, 2010, starring Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. After Zuckerberg was told about the film, he responded, "I just wished that nobody made a movie of me while I was still alive." Also, after the film's script was leaked on the Internet and it was apparent that the film would not portray Zuckerberg in a wholly positive light, he stated that he wanted to establish himself as

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6324-467: The future of the company. Zuckerberg's speech expands upon the goal that he raised at the TechCrunch conference in September 2013, whereby he is working towards expanding Internet coverage into developing countries. Alongside other American technology figures such as Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook , Zuckerberg hosted visiting Chinese politician Lu Wei , known as the "Internet czar" for his influence in

6426-474: The general public. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin subpoenaed Morgan Stanley over the same issue. The allegations sparked "fury" among some investors and led to the immediate filing of several lawsuits, one of them a class action suit claiming more than $ 2.5 billion in losses due to the IPO. Before the creation of secondary market exchanges like SecondMarket and SharesPost, shares of private companies had very little liquidity; however, this

6528-440: The immediate build-up to the offering, public interest swelled. Some said it is "as much a cultural phenomenon as it is a business story." Meanwhile, Facebook itself celebrated the occasion with an all-night " hackathon " on the night before the IPO. Zuckerberg rang a bell from Hacker Square on Facebook campus in Menlo Park , California, to announce the offering, as is customary for CEOs on the day their companies go public. Trading

6630-551: The issue with the United Nations General Assembly . In June 2010, Paul Ceglia, the owner of a wood pellet fuel company in Allegany County, upstate New York , filed suit against Zuckerberg, claiming 84 percent ownership of Facebook and seeking monetary damages. According to Ceglia, he and Zuckerberg signed a contract on April 28, 2003, that an initial fee of $ 1,000 entitled Ceglia to 50% of

6732-518: The law unduly protected social media companies against allegations of anti-conservative censorship. On March 25, 2021, Zuckerberg testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee regarding Facebook's role in the spread of misinformation and hate speech on the platform. During the hearing, he was questioned about Facebook's handling of user data, its role in the January 6, 2021, attack on

6834-533: The long-run, the troubled process "makes it harder for the next social-media company that wants to go public." While the Wall Street Journal called for a broad perspective on the issue, they agreed that valuations and funding for future startup IPOs could take a hit. Online travel company Kayak.com delayed its IPO roadshow in the wake of Facebook's troubles. Analyst Trip Chowdhry suggested an even broader conclusion with regards to IPOs, arguing "that hype doesn't sell anymore, short of fundamentals." CBS News compared

6936-757: The massive gains Google saw in the wake of its IPO. LinkedIn stock, meanwhile, had doubled on its first day. At $ 26.81 per share, which Facebook closed at a week after its IPO, Facebook was valued like "an ultra-growth company," according to Robert Leclerc of the Financial Post. Its PE ratio was 85, despite a decline in both earnings and revenue in the first quarter of 2012. A number of commentators argued retrospectively that Facebook had been heavily overvalued because of an illiquid private market on SecondMarket , where trades of stock were minimal and thus pricing unstable. Facebook's aggregate valuation went up from January 2011 to April 2012, before plummeting after

7038-495: The month that followed. Reuters ' Alistair Barr reported that Facebook 's lead underwriters, Morgan Stanley (MS), JP Morgan (JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS) all cut their earnings forecasts for the company in the middle of the IPO roadshow. Some have filed lawsuits, alleging that an underwriter for Morgan Stanley selectively revealed adjusted earnings estimates to preferred clients. The remaining underwriters (MS, JPM, GS) and Facebook's CEO and board are also facing litigation. It

7140-406: The next day, closing at $ 31.00. A 'circuit breaker' was used in an attempt to slow down the decline in the stock price. The stock increased modestly in coming days, and Facebook closed its first full week of trading at $ 31.91. The stock returned to losses for most of its second full week, and had lost over a quarter of its starting value by the end of May. This led the Wall Street Journal to call

7242-483: The next year, 2013. Zuckerberg had little choice as to whether an IPO had to be done at once. Facebook filed for an initial public offering on February 1, 2012 by filing their S1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The preliminary prospectus announced that the company had 845 million active monthly users and that its website featured 2.7 billion daily likes and comments. The filing noted that

7344-474: The offering would overcome questions about Facebook's difficulties in attracting advertisers to transform the company into a "must-own stock". Jimmy Lee of JPMorgan Chase described it as "the next great blue-chip". Some analysts expressed concern over Facebook's revenue model; namely, its advertising practices. Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group argued that, "Although Facebook is very promising, it's an unproven ad model." To better monetize user involvement,

7446-399: The press and growing rapidly in users and publicity. In August 2004, Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Adam D'Angelo , and Sean Parker launched a competing peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog , a precursor to Facebook Platform applications, which was launched in 2007. In 2013, Zuckerberg launched Internet.org , which he described as an initiative to provide Internet access to

7548-412: The project. Zuckerberg, Moskovitz and the other co-founders moved to Palo Alto, California , where they leased a small house that served as an office. Over the summer, Zuckerberg met Peter Thiel , who invested in his company. They got their first office in mid-2004. According to Zuckerberg, the group planned to return to Harvard, but eventually decided to remain in California, where Zuckerberg appreciated

7650-530: The role of Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg himself was reported to have been amused, "I thought this was funny." Stephen Colbert awarded a "Medal of Fear" to Zuckerberg at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, "because he values his privacy much more than he values yours". Zuckerberg appeared in the climax of 2013 documentary film Terms and Conditions May Apply . The South Park episode " Franchise Prequel " mocked him. According to CNET , he

7752-501: The shares. Morgan's reputation in technology IPOs was "in trouble" after the Facebook offering. Underwriting equity offerings became an important part of Morgan's business after the financial crisis, generating $ 1.2 billion in fees since 2010. But by signing off on an offering price that was too high, or attempting to sell too many shares to the market, Morgan compounded problems, senior editor for CNN Money Stephen Gandel writes. According to Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, "this

7854-470: The situation to the dot-com bubble , warning that "You'd think we all would have learned our lesson" from that period of overvaluation. While expected to provide significant benefits to Nasdaq, the IPO resulted in a strained relationship between Facebook and the exchange. Facebook has considered moving its listing to a competing exchange. More than 40 lawsuits were filed regarding the Facebook IPO in

7956-498: The state of California issued warrants to its creditors in mid-2009, SecondMarket opened up a market place to facilitate the trading of government IOUs. The Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) is a private, open-ended trust that derives its value solely from the price of bitcoin. The NASDAQ Private Market (formerly known as "SecondMarket") acts as the custodian and the trust is audited by Ernst & Young . The trust

8058-458: The stock during the first day of trading while the stock price was falling - forcing them to incur bigger losses when their trades finally went through. In June 2012, Facebook asked for all the lawsuits to be consolidated into one, because of overlap in their content. Morgan Stanley settled allegations of improperly influencing research analysts for $ 5 million in December 2012. Facebook's IPO

8160-428: The stock shoot up to as much as $ 45. Yet the early rally was unsustainable. The stock struggled to stay above the IPO price for most of the day, forcing underwriters to buy back shares to support the price. Only the aforementioned technical glitches and underwriter support prevented the stock price from falling below the IPO price on the first day of trading. At closing bell, shares were valued at $ 38.23, only $ 0.23 above

8262-452: The student social experience at many private schools. With them, students were able to list attributes such as their class years, their friends, and their telephone numbers. Six days after the site launched, three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winklevoss , Tyler Winklevoss , and Divya Narendra , accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com , when he

8364-548: The subject of multiple lawsuits regarding the creation and ownership of the website as well as issues such as user privacy. Zuckerberg briefly attended Harvard College , where he launched Facebook in February 2004 with his roommates Eduardo Saverin , Andrew McCollum , Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes . Zuckerberg took the company public in May 2012 with majority shares. He became the world's youngest self-made billionaire in 2008, at age 23, and has consistently ranked among

8466-628: The three filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg that resulted in a settlement. The agreed settlement was for 1.2 million Facebook shares and $ 20 million in cash. Zuckerberg's Facebook started off as just a "Harvard thing" until he decided to spread it to other schools, enlisting the help of roommate and co-founder Dustin Moskovitz . They began with Columbia University , New York University , Stanford University , Dartmouth College , Cornell University , University of Pennsylvania , Brown University , and Yale University . Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year in order to complete

8568-472: The time the largest online auction platform serving the bankruptcy trade claims market. In February 2009, SecondMarket opened its marketplace to limited partnership (LP) interests , which are ownership rights in investment entities such as private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, and fund of funds . Through this market, current limited partners are able to transfer future capital commitments to other investors. In April 2009, Secondmarket opened

8670-529: The true be the enemy of the good?". Upon winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture on January 16, 2011, producer Scott Rudin thanked Facebook and Zuckerberg "for his willingness to allow us to use his life and work as a metaphor through which to tell a story about communication and the way we relate to each other". Sorkin, who won for Best Screenplay, retracted some of the impressions given in his script: In January 2011, Zuckerberg made

8772-446: The user's listening habits, which was posted to Slashdot and received a rating of 3 out of 5 from PC Magazine . The New Yorker once said of Zuckerberg, "some kids played computer games. Mark created them." While still in high school, he attended Mercy College taking a graduate computer course on Thursday evenings. The New Yorker noted that by the time Zuckerberg began classes at Harvard in 2002, he had already achieved

8874-401: The usual $ 3 million limit on reimbursements, it was unlikely to make up for large investor losses. Additionally, the rival New York Stock Exchange lampooned the move as a "harmful precedent" and an unnecessary subsidy in the wake of Nasdaq's missteps. Nasdaq claimed to fix the problems that beset the offering, and hired IBM for a technical review. The IPO impacted both Facebook investors and

8976-462: The website of 02138 , a magazine that catered to Harvard alumni. They included Zuckerberg's Social Security number, his parents' home address, and his girlfriend's address. Although Facebook filed to have the documents removed, the judge ruled in favor of 02138 . In 2005, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg and Facebook, alleging that Zuckerberg had illegally spent Saverin's money on personal expenses. The lawsuit

9078-432: The website's revenue, as well as an additional 1% interest in the business per day after January 1, 2004, until website completion. Zuckerberg was developing other projects at the time, among which was Facemash , the predecessor to Facebook, but did not register the domain name thefacebook.com until January 1, 2004. The Facebook management dismissed the lawsuit as "completely frivolous". Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told

9180-605: Was "completely improper". In January 2004, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website. On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com, in partnership with his roommates Eduardo Saverin , Andrew McCollum , Dustin Moskovitz , and Chris Hughes . An earlier inspiration for Facebook may have come from Phillips Exeter Academy , the prep school from which Zuckerberg graduated in 2002. It published its own student directory, "The Photo Address Book", which students referred to as "The Facebook". Such photo directories were an important part of

9282-496: Was a competitor to NASDAQ's Private Market initiative. NASDAQ rebranded Second Market Solutions as NASDAQ Private Market. Restricted securities, SecondMarket's initial market, utilizes privately negotiated transactions to provide access to liquidity in the trillion dollar restricted securities market. SecondMarket entered into the bankruptcy claims market in June 2008 by acquiring Trade Receivable Exchange, Inc. (T-REX) of Denver, at

9384-404: Was announced, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia pegged the company at $ 46 in an interview with The Street . The interviewer cautioned Bhatia against what she perceived as Bhatia's low valuation, suggesting the stock could rise to "60, 70, 80 dollars" and could shoot up to $ 60 on the first day of trading. On May 17, the day before the offering, analyst Jim Krapfel of Morningstar suggested that only

9486-559: Was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York to psychiatrist Karen ( née  Kempner ) and dentist Edward Zuckerberg. He and his three sisters (Arielle, Randi , and Donna ) were raised in a Reform Jewish household in Dobbs Ferry, New York . His great-grandparents were emigrants from Austria, Germany, and Poland. Zuckerberg initially attended Ardsley High School before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy . He

9588-483: Was captain of the fencing team. Zuckerberg learned computer programming in his childhood. At about the age of eleven, he created "ZuckNet", a program that allowed computers at the family home and his father's dental office to communicate with each other. During Zuckerberg's high-school years, he worked to build a music player called the Synapse Media Player. The device used machine learning to learn

9690-511: Was dropped for future meetings. Prior to the official valuation, the target price of the stock steadily increased. In early May, the company was aiming for a valuation somewhere from $ 28 to $ 35 per share ($ 77 billion to $ 96 billion). On May 14, it raised the targets from $ 34 to $ 38 per share. Some investors even suggested a $ 40 valuation, although a dip in the stock market on the day before the IPO ended such speculation. Strong demand, especially from retail investors, suggested Facebook could choose

9792-478: Was hosted on Facebook. The investigation also named the anonymous German woman who created the contest. Sidiqque asked the country's police to contact Interpol to have Zuckerberg and the three others arrested for blasphemy . On May 19, 2010, Facebook's website was temporarily blocked in Pakistan until Facebook removed the contest from its website at the end of May. Sidiqque also asked its UN representative to raise

9894-500: Was no mention of Facebook in them. Some law firms withdrew from the case before it was initiated and others after Ceglia's arrest. In 2014 Zuckerberg purchased 700 acres of land on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi . In January 2017, Zuckerberg filed eight " quiet title and partition " lawsuits against hundreds of native Hawaiians to claim small tracts of land that they owned within his acreage. Zuckerberg responded to criticisms in

9996-951: Was portrayed as "a rosy-cheeked bully nerd who utters strange noises, makes peculiar kung fu gestures and turns up wherever he likes in people's houses". SecondMarket Nasdaq Private Market ( NPM ) provides a secondary market trading venue for issuers, brokers, shareholders, and prospective investors of private company stock. Since inception, NPM has facilitated more than $ 40 billion in transactional volume and has worked with 400+ private companies and 100,000+ employees, stakeholders, and investors. NPM offers private company and investors different solutions including tender offers, auctions, block trades, and custom company marketplaces. In 2021, NPM spun-off of Nasdaq to become its own, independent company receiving strategic investments from Silicon Valley Bank, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Allen and Co. SecondMarket Solutions changed its name to NASDAQ Private Market after being acquired by NASDAQ in

10098-518: Was seeking to raise US$ 5 billion, which would make it one of the largest IPOs in tech history and the biggest in Internet history. The roadshow faced a "rough start" initially. Zuckerberg raised controversy for wearing a hoodie (rather than a customary business suit) to the first meeting with investors. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter called it a "mark of immaturity." A half-hour-long video played during that meeting also frustrated investors who wanted to discuss more technical details, and

10200-416: Was settled out of court and, although terms of the settlement were sealed, the company affirmed Saverin's title as co-founder of Facebook, and Saverin agreed to stop talking to the press. In June 2010, then Pakistani Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Azhar Sidiqque launched a criminal investigation into Zuckerberg and Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes after a " Draw Muhammad " contest

10302-485: Was to begin at 11:00am Eastern Time on Friday, May 18, 2012. However, trading was delayed until 11:30am Eastern Time due to technical problems with the NASDAQ exchange. Those early jitters would foretell ongoing problems; the first day of trading was marred by numerous technical glitches that prevented orders from going through, or even confused investors as to whether or not their orders were successful. Initial trading saw

10404-425: Was using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to The Harvard Crimson , and the newspaper began an investigation in response. While Zuckerberg tried to convince the editors not to run the story, he also broke into two of the editors' email accounts—for which he made use of their private login data logs from TheFacebook. Following the official launch of the Facebook social media platform,

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