Zuckerberg to ring Nasdaq opening bell

Facebook Inc. could end its first day of public trading on New York's Nasdaq Stock Market Friday worth as much as $104 billion, analysts say. The figure would make the social network's market value higher than those of McDonald's Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., analysts said. Facebook founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg -- whose stake in Facebook after the initial public offering is estimated at $19 billion -- was to ring the opening bell for the Nasdaq from Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. He was to be surrounded by executives, engineers and other Facebook employees, a company statement said. An estimated 421 million Facebook shares, trading under the ticker FB, were to start trading about 11 a.m. EDT at a starting price of $38 each. Roughly 60 percent of the shares are coming from insiders and other existing shareholders, CNBC said. Newly public technology stocks -- particularly ones that have captured investors' attention like Facebook -- often achieve double-digit gains in a one-day pop, The New York Times said. Raising $18.4 billion would make Facebook's debut the second-largest IPO in U.S. history, behind only Visa Inc., which raised $19.7 billion when it went public March 18, 2008. Visa sold 406 million shares at $44 a share -- $2 above the high end of the expected $37 to $42 pricing range, a United Press International review of records at the time indicated. The Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., which owns the Nasdaq Stock Market and eight European stock exchanges, said it would hold a 2-hour conference call beginning at 10:15 a.m. "to keep the industry informed leading up to and during the Facebook IPO." Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/05/18/Zuckerberg-to-ring-Nasdaq-opening-bell/UPI-50321337326200/#ixzz1vE8j5EOG