Facebook IPO: Cautionary Tale for Individual Investors (USA Today)

Facebook’s public offering failed to be the moneymaker investors were hoping. “I got into this IPO to try to make money,” said Murli Gupta, a math professor at George Washington University. “I was hoping it would climb up high like some of the other hot IPOs, like Red Hat or Google.” After one week of trading, Facebook stock closed over 20% below its offering price. Shares have been hurt by trading glitches, complaints of too many shares offered at too high a price, and lawsuits alleging underwriters failed to share lowered earnings forecasts. Gupta sold his shares at a loss of $547.50. “There is no rule written anywhere that IPOs always go up,” said Mark Nicolussi, an engineer from Pennsylvania.