Facebook's result the chance a second prove

4:30 AM chance, Facebooks, prove, result, second No Comments

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls show the profit of the company in the first?

Two months after the devastating IPO, Facebook come face to face with shareholders and analysts Thursday when it delivers its first earnings report as a joint-stock company.

It will win a second chance for the social media giant on the investing public and most importantly, to explain how it intends to, his work on the rapid migration of its users be adapted to mobile devices.

Facebook initial public offering in may, one of the largest camps offers to Wall Street ever take, should be a seminal moment in social media, technology and finance.

Instead the event proved a great humiliation for the company are.

A tsunami of stock orders led to embarrassing technical mishaps and "Pop" couldn't share in the expected opening day. In fact, the shares remained sunk above issue price on the first day only with the great support from banks and since almost 24 percent to about $29 from the issue price of $38.

Now angry shareholders are suing Facebook and his lead Institute, Morgan Stanley, claiming that they were being deceived.

Before the IPO, Facebook had questions about his financial prospects, especially in the growing mobile market where advertising inventory is scarce.

And there are concerns that the Facebook's advertising growth is slowing.

In a stroke just before the IPO, GM said marketing executives that she would draw $10 million in advertising from the social network, after assessment of the efforts was "hardly" consumers to achieve.

Facebook, said in a regulatory filing prior to the offer that most of the $3,710 billion, last year turnover made from which was advertising. The company said advertising revenue also decreased in the first quarter of the year compared to the quarter before.

The document reveals more challenging new users ahead for Facebook, including the difficulties of generating revenue from overseas.

About 20 percent of Facebook current user base is in the United States and Canada, and half of the users accessing the site with mobile devices. The mobile business is dominated by Facebook competitors Google and Apple.

In addition bring markets where Facebook at schnellsten-- in Europe and Asia-growing companies less revenue per year. Facebook brings $3 per user in the United States and Canada, but only $1,50 in Europe and in Asia only 50 cents.

A further concern for Facebook came late Wednesday, social delivered the game maker Zynga disappointing results. The gaming company reported a more demanding environment on the Facebook Web platform, where it makes money, by we free games and virtual goods to sell.

On the investor side Facebook's IPO said debacle was a lost opportunity for the industry, derivatives j.j. Kinahan, TD Ameritrade chief strategist.

The offer had never acted to strong interest from young investors under 35, generated, of which many had shares, but are active Facebook users. Many probably Facebook less than stellar market performance off were, he said.

"The securities industry really a chance there lost," Kinahan said.

Facebook could make some ground with a solid result report Thursday afternoon, and Wall Street sees poised to respond to.

Kinahan notes that the July per Spagat--a trading strategy where an investor believes that a stock price will be moved significantly, but is not sure what directions:-is trading at $3 before the report.

"In other words, the market expects we have result, a $3 up or down on [Facebook]," he said.

But Facebook's earnings report is not only about numbers. Investors will want to hear from the Executive Director and founder Mark Zuckerberg on the earnings call with analysts.

Zuckerberg has mostly left daily financial responsibility to the Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman. But Zuckerberg has on the Conference call Thursday, up to speak, said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush securities.

"I think, what really counts is that Zuckerberg has received on this call and say, ' I care ', and I think that he is to go", Pachter said.

"I think Zuckerberg does not answer questions, but he has to the call to be", he added. "When he rises to the call, the stock immediately." He is the CEO, he can not only by mail in. He has to show. "I think people care more than Q & A.."

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray analyst, offers a preview of the first Facebook's earnings report since IPO, and explains why he is optimistic, what the social network company and has a "buy" evaluation on the stock with a price target of $41.

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Ex-employee offers insider take on Facebook's culture

3:00 AM culture, Exemployee, Facebooks, insider, offers No Comments

From Facebook's company-obsessed culture to its rowdy parties, a former employee is airing some of the social network's dirty laundry in a book released Tuesday.

Katherine Losse, a former employee who worked in customer service and eventually became the ghostwriter for company CEO Mark Zuckerberg, wrote "The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network."

Losse, who worked at Facebook from 2005 to 2010, says in her book that Facebook employees were expected to be dedicated to the "the cause," a Facebook-centric way of life.

Employees would compete with their social profiles by rewarding the most-liked photos and posts with money, Losse says in her new book, according to a press release. Employees were also encouraged to live within a mile of the office and rewarded for doing so.

Losse also says employees would use a secret app built on the Facebook platform called Judgebook to quickly display images of Facebook users for company employees to score.

The Facebook culture seems to put an emphasis on attractiveness according to Losse, who says in her book during VIP parties in Las Vegas, Facebook employees would have bouncers bring women to their table, then turn them away for not being attractive enough.

Privacy is another subject Losse touches on in her book, claiming employees had access to every profile in the early days of Facebook.

Facebook did not immediately respond for comment.

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Analysts ‘liking’ Facebook’s long-term outlook

8:30 AM analysts, Facebooks, liking, longterm, outlook No Comments

Andre Sequin, RBC Capital Markets, explains his 'outperform' rating on Facebook.

One month after Facebook’s tumultuous public stock offering, Wall Street analysts are unveiling their outlooks for the No. 1 social network — and most are sounding a note of muted optimism.

More than a dozen analyst reports on Facebook hit the street Wednesday, marking 40 days since the company’s first day of trading on May 18, when Facebook became the first U.S. company to debut with a market value of more than $100 billion. Under securities law, the 33 banks that took part in Facebook’s IPO had to wait that long before publishing their views.

In reports from banks such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, analysts said they are generally upbeat about the long-term outlook for the company, given its 901 million users. Many of the analysts also said they think Facebook can grab a significant slice of the Internet advertising market.

However, there was also a note of caution about Facebook’s business model and its ability to make money from the growing number of users who log on to the service using a mobile device.

Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein set a price target of $41 for Facebook’s stock price over the next 12 months, suggesting upside potential of 24 percent compared with its close of $33.10 on Tuesday.

Helfstein said a price of $41 was a reasonable target and not overly aggressive, adding that he thinks some of the estimates for Facebook’s stock price were too high. Still, Facebook’s stock will be attractive to long-term investors, he told CNBC.

“Are we saying buy the stock, make money tomorrow? No,” he said, adding that investors who hold on to it for a long time will likely make money.

Shares of Facebook fell to a low of $25.87 on June 6, down 32 percent from the company’s initial offering price of $38. But they have since recovered some of their lost ground and are up 27 percent from that early June low.

Facebook’s IPO was one of the most highly anticipated stock offerings of recent years, but it had an inauspicious start.

A first-day trading glitch delayed its first trades, leading to complaints of slow order confirmations and too many shares offered at too high a price. Subsequent lawsuits have alleged that the Nasdaq botched the offering and that deal underwriters Morgan Stanley and others failed to share lowered earnings forecasts with retail investors before the IPO.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, RBC Capital Markets, Piper Jaffray, Oppenheimer and William Blair began coverage of Facebook with their top ratings, while analysts at BofA Merrill, Barclays Capital, Raymond James, Stifel Nicolaus, Lazard Capital Markets and Citi Investment Research & Analysis gave the company’s stock a less-sanguine “hold,” “market-perform,” or equivalent rating.

Goldman Sachs set a share price target of $42 for Facebook, while RBC said it expected a run to $40. BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley pegged the shares at $38, and Citi and Barclays opted for a price $35.

However, BMO Capital Markets bucked the relatively upbeat trends and began coverage of Facebook with an “underperform,” -- its lowest -- and set a share-price target of $25.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to Facebook’s future growth is its ability to find a growing source of revenue, particularly from the growing mobile sector.

The social network appears to have already lost one potential source: Last week, Facebook agreed to a $20 million settlement in a California lawsuit claiming it publicized that some of its users had “liked” certain advertisers but didn't pay the users, or give them a way to opt out.

The so-called “Sponsored Story” feature on Facebook is essentially an advertisement that appears on the site and includes a member’s Facebook page and generally consists of another friend’s name, profile picture and a statement that the person “likes” that advertiser. Dumping the “Sponsored Stories” feature could cost Facebook $103.2 million in lost revenue.

On the mobile side, about 20 percent of Facebook’s current user base is in the U.S. and Canada, and half of those users are accessing the site using mobile devices, through which Facebook derives much less advertising revenue than through a desktop PC.

What’s more, markets where Facebook is growing most rapidly -- in Europe and Asia -- bring the company less revenue. Facebook brings in $3 per user in the U.S. and in Canada, but only $1.50 in Europe and just 50 cents in Asia.

In established markets, such as the U.S. and Canada, revenue growth from ads and other services is slowing. The company, which last year was more than doubling the amount of money collected every quarter compared with a year earlier, reported growth of 45 percent in the first three months of 2012, and revenue declined from the preceding quarter.

And in mid-May, General Motors very publicly yanked $10 million in Facebook advertising, saying paid advertising on the site isn't effective.

Facebook is due to issue its first earnings report as a public company in mid to late July.

However, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster dismissed the revenue considerations as short-term concerns for Facebook. He said there outlook for Facebook, particularly in terms of revenue from e-commerce transactions, “looks bright.”

“All this negative perspective in the near term has been well known,” he told CNBC. “The key takeaway for us is we think next year there’s going to be accelerating revenue growth” when Facebook begins to monetize commercial transactions over its platform, he said.

“When they open up their platform it will change how people buy things,” he added.

BofA Merrill Lynch said it thinks Facebook’s user monetization rate is fairly low, despite expecting the company to bring in $4.8 billion in revenue in 2012 as new advertising formats drive up revenue growth in the second half of 2012.

Facebook has introduced a string of enhancements to its advertising service over the past few weeks, including a program that allows marketers to specifically target ads to users of Facebook on mobile devices. Another improvement shows Facebook users ads based on websites that they have visited.

“The company is in the midst of a mobile usage transition and we are cautious on Facebook’s revenue trends until new mobile ad revenue models start driving the top line,” BofA Merrill Lynch’s analysts wrote.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Facebook's Zuckerberg marries treasure

6:42 AM Facebooks, marries, treasure, Zuckerberg No Comments

PALO ALTO, Calif. -Facebook updated his status to "married" founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday.

Zuckerberg and 27-year-old Priscilla Chan bound the node in a small ceremony at his Palo Alto, California, home limit entitled a busy week for the pair to guest speak for the pair. The person spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Zuckerberg took his company public in one of the most anticipated story has quotes on Wall Street Friday. And Chan turned graduated from the Faculty of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, on Monday, on the same day is 28, Zuckerberg said the person.

The couple met at Harvard University and have been together for more than nine years, said the person.

Zuckerberg developed the ring with a very simple Ruby"", according to the person who gave the following characterisation of the wedding.

Facebook's initial public offering cannot live up to the hype
The ceremony was held in the Zuckerberg backyard before fewer than 100 guests, who thought they were Chan's conclusion to celebrate it.

Guests have family style from the few Palo Alto favorite restaurants, Palo Alto Sol and fuki sushi eaten. Dessert was L.A. Burdick chocolate "Mice" that had the couple on their first date, the person said.

Even after the IPO continues to Zuckerberg Facebook the largest single shareholder, with 503.6 million shares. And he controls the company with 56 percent of the voting shares.

The site that was born in a dorm room eight years ago, has grown to a global network of nearly one billion people.

In 2004, Zuckerberg founded Facebook at Harvard University.

He was named time's person of the year 2010, at the age of 26.

Zuckerberg was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Copyright 2012 of the associated press. All rights reserved. This material cannot be published, sent, rewritten or redistributed

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Here's who is getting rich off Facebook's IPO

5:00 AM Facebooks, getting, Heres No Comments

Eric Risberg / AP

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, 27, a former roommate of Mark Zuckerberg's, is by many accounts the world's youngest self-made billionaire with a stake in the company valued at more than $5 billion.

When Facebook (FB) priced its initial public offering Thursday, the event created hundreds of instant millionaires and a few billionaires.

Topping the list, of course, is founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who sold $1.1 billion worth of shares and saw his remaining stake valued at $19.1 billion.

With each tick up of shares on Nasdaq stock market Friday, the value of that stake will increase. In early trading, Facebook was trading at $40.21, up 6 percent from the IPO price of $38.

Our partners at CNBC.com have a "real-time wealth tracker" that shows the value of shares held by Zuckerberg and other leading Facebook investors, based on figures in documents the company filed with federal regulators.

Based on those figures, here are the leading investors and the value of their stake based on the IPO price of $38:

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, $19.1 billion.Accel Partners, venture and growth equity firm, $5.4 billion.Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder, $5.1 billion.DST Global Ltd., Internet investment firm, $3.2 billion.Sean Parker, former Facebook president, $2.6 billion.Eduardo Saverin, Facebook co-founder, $2 billion.Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, $1.6 billion.

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Big exchanges to battle for Facebook’s stock

7:42 PM battle, exchanges, Facebooks, stock No Comments

By msnbc.com news services

When Facebook goes public in a few months, will the social media giant decide to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq?

Given that stocks listed on the Nasdaq also trade NYSE, and NYSE-listed companies trade on the Nasdaq, the question is somewhat moot.

What’s more important is the image the company will project with its listing decision. By choosing the tech-heavy Nasdaq, it might be aiming to attract investors interested in the likes of Apple, Amazon.com or Google. If it wants to project a more blue-chip image, like that of a Microsoft or Intel, it may choose the NYSE.

Another important consideration is listing fees, according to CNBC’s Kayla Tausche. The NYSE charges an initial $250,000 and an annual fee for trading of as much as $500,000, Tausche said, while the Nasdaq asks for $225,000 up front and as much as $99,500 annually.

Both exchanges will be doing all they can to woo one of the most talked about IPOs in recent memory, Tausche reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that online-review compiler Yelp has opted to list its stock on the NYSE. Last year, the Big Board grabbed new tech listings LinkedIn and Pandora, while archrival Nasdaq managed to acquire the listings for Zillow, Groupon and Zynga, the paper said.

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