Facebook Stock: What's Going Wrong?
Just a month ago, among the investing public, nothing was more hip or more fashionable than the planned Facebook stock offering. This would be the most prominent, most anticipated IPO since Google . Investors from coast to coast--from institutions to moms and pops, uncles and aunts--maneuvered and schmoozed to get a piece of the action. The pre-IPO "road show" was circus-like with the business media clinging to every move of the Facebook management team, especially when the team paraded into New York. Underwriters spent weeks jockeying for position, while some investors whined when they weren't promised a gold-mine allotment of shares. A month later, Facebook shares have stumbled out of the gates and fallen flat, and now analysts, market watchers and pundits everywhere are trying to figure out what went wrong. Some blame the lead underwriters (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan) for mis-pricing the offering, for over-valuing the company, and for bad timing. Som...