Facebook Board Member Dumps 20 Million Shares of the Social Network
- Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:07am by
Becket Adams
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Peter Thiel (AP)
NEW YORK (TheBlaze/AP) — Noted libertarian and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, one of Facebook’s earliest investors and a member of its board, is among a handful of insiders dumping their stock following the social network’s disastrous initial public offering.
A regulatory filing on Monday said that Thiel sold about 20 million shares of Facebook through affiliates such as his Founders Fund and other entities last week. The shares were sold on Thursday and Friday for between $19.27 and $20.69, for a total of about $396 million.
Though Facebook’s stock has lost nearly half of its value since its initial public offering, Thiel made out well. As one of Facebook’s initial investors, he first invested $500,000 in the company in 2004. He sold 16.8 million shares in the company’s May initial public offering for about $640 million. With last week’s sale, Thiel has now sold most of his stake in the company.
Thursday marked the expiration of the first of several lockup periods barring insiders from selling Facebook’s stock following its IPO. All told, investors who owned a combined 271 million Facebook shares became eligible to sell their stock.
Accel Partners, another early investor, said in filings that it distributed stock to its limited partners after the lockup expired. It was not clear from the filings what the partners then did with the shares, though it‘s likely that some sold based on Facebook’s more than 6 percent stock price drop and high trading volume Thursday.
On Monday, Facebook’s shares hit a new low of $18.75 before bouncing back to $20.01 by the time the stock market closed. That’s up 96 cents, or 5 percent, for the day.
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 topped its $38 IPO price since its first trading day.
Investors are concerned about Facebook’s ability to grow revenue quickly, especially through mobile advertising as users flock to smartphones and tablet computers. There are also looming expirations of the IPO lock-up periods. Lockups preventing many Facebook employees from selling stock expire this fall, potentially flooding the market with more shares.
Another 1.66 billion locked-up Facebook shares will be freed up for sale over the next nine months, likely to place more pressure on the stock. One of the biggest tests will come in November when about 1.2 billion insider shares will be eligible for sale.
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Front page photo source courtesy the AP
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RecknHavic
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 1:03amI like FB.
Report Post »epicwinofgod
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 8:20pmWhen the shares are cheap enough and available in numerous amounts, someone will take advantage of the situation by acquiring facebook. I am certain this is the company’s future. And I am also certain it will be acquired by hands in which would not benefit the users.Probably dirty socialist hands.
Report Post »FREEDOMoverFEAR
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:25pmI never use Facebook for personal use but I built a company website with it and it’s cheap. It helps your company show up on Google more, as well as providing an easy way to make a webpage without having to use Adobe or paying a web designer. I just think it’s a waste of time for the personal users. But hey if it helps me fill my wallet I’ll take it.
Report Post »DAJ
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 6:13pmHaha.. this company is garbage and is about to be taken to the dump. If only others would realize the same. It produces nothing
Report Post »FREEDOMoverFEAR
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:16pmI use Facebook to advertise my company and it seems to help. It is an extremely cheap source of advertising. So you are wrong saying it produces nothing.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 5:55pmBluntly stated…….Facebook is a classic clusterf*ck and ANYONE using it or, more mindnumbing, investing in it (other than to short the stock at the IPO) is a fool who should be parted with their money.
Report Post »FREEDOMoverFEAR
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 7:18pmI advertise on Facebook and it draws in a couple people a month. My average client spends about 500 a month with me and it cost me about 10 dollars a month to advertise on Facebook. That doesn’t seem stupid to me, but what do I know.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 2:02pmHow’s the poor guy supposed to survive on $396 million? He needs a government bailout.
Report Post »Mikev5
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:13pmI smell insider trading and market manipulation from the start the whole process smelled rotten from day one. Price changing secret early investment to the few
An investigation is needed but as usual no one is to blame why is no one ever to blame anymore this is happening more and more the suckers get pulled in they fleece them then the early birds sell out and make a bundle but the rest get 0.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 6:05pmMartha Stewart must be pretty pffed that she had to do jail time.
Report Post »lembrandt
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:51amFacebook is a fraud *and* it’s evil, to boot. It shouldn’t be worth a penny per share.
Report Post »v15
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:35amThe shares from the IPO have lost roughly half of their value and there are over a billion shares. I have no problem with capitalism but from the start this looked liked a money-making scheme by the executives before either getting bailed out from the federal government or filing for bankruptcy. This is just a golden parachute for when not just the company but the entire economy is sunk.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 6:03pmI wouldn’t put it being an OWS supporter past Zuckerberg and the entire thing was intentional. He likely laughed from the founding of FB to the sticking it to Wall Street.
Report Post »GlennaBeckski
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:34amI hope the whole site goes belly up and becomes non-existant */*
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:13pmAssbook strikes again! ( is that the sound of a flushing toilet I hear? ) hee, hee hee
Report Post »GlennaBeckski
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:32amAdd your comments
Report Post »strawberry411a
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:30amFACEBOOK: responsible for more suicides, murder for hire schemes, family discord, slander, gossip, sexual exploitation, divorces, parent/child disharmony than any other tool in HISTORY. Designed for revenge it has ruined more lives than we can count.
Report Post »v15
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:59amWow, you’re bitter! Facebook was NOT “designed for revenge” – that’s an outright lie. Facebook provided a social networking site and I do not believe they can be held responsible for all of the charges you cited. It can be used for good or bad. If Facebook is evil as you say it is, then it’s just a reflection of what is really going on in the world. Blame people instead of blaming technology.
Report Post »Coach John
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 12:40pmHere’s an idea, how about if we conservatives keep it consistent.
Guns don’t kill people, people do.
Facebook doesn’t slander, gossip, hire people for murder or rape or drive people to commit suicide, people do.
Face it, people are ********. Guns, facebook, bath salts are just tools that those of us with no self control, personal responsibility, or true faith or grounding will use to inflict their own ills on the rest of us.
People that aim to do evil or harm will find a way to do it, with or without guns, with or without facebook.
Report Post »turkey13
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:26amI wonder if the news media goes after him since after takes his 15% capital gains losses it will off set most of his 15 % capital gains. Remember how they attacked Romney for only paying what the law said he had to pay – 15% on capital gains. Romney then reduced that to 13% after giving millions to charity. I’m sure Thiel gave money to charity as his tax accountants told him to do. Not all the wealthy are like Joe Biden who gave $330.00 and put it on his tax return last year.
Report Post »johnjamison
Posted on August 21, 2012 at 11:20amFB stock what a sucker bet.
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