NEW YORK -- It was barely a "like" and definitely not a "love" from Facebook investors as the online social network's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut Friday.
One of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history ended on a flat note, with Facebook's stock closing at $38.23, up 23 cents from Thursday night's pricing.
That meant the company founded in 2004 in a Harvard dorm room has a market value of about $105 billion, more than Amazon.com, McDonald's and Silicon Valley icons Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.
It also gave 28-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg a stake worth $19,252,698,725.50.
"Going public is an important milestone in our history," Zuckerberg said before he pushed a button that rang Nasdaq's opening bell from company headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, Calif. "But here's the thing: Our mission isn't to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected."
ADVERTISEMENT
But for many seeking a big first-day pop in Facebook's share price, the increase of six-tenths of 1 percent was a
letdown.
"This is like kissing your sister," said John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPO Scoop, a research firm. "With all the drumbeats and hype, I don't think there'll be barroom bragging tonight."
