Democracy is an illusion! It’s become a political system fostered by the élite, for the élite, in order to fool the people that they have a stake in the system. In actual fact, they have virtually none. The whole political system in the modern era, despite having noble beginnings, is now used to benefit the few at the expense of the many. – Mark Alexander, June 29, 2018
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Regulators Demand Review of Facebook's Initial Public Offering (IPO)
As Facebook's share prices continue to fall, US regulators have called for a review of last week's Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the world's largest social networking site. The financial services group Morgan Stanley has been ordered to account for its handling of the sale of Facebook's shares. Of particular concern for regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIRA) is a report that the consumer internet analyst at the stock's lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, cut revenue forecasts for Facebook in the days before the offering, information that may not have reached many investors before the stock was listed. Traders questioning whether the initial share price was realistic to begin with have been further shaken by the company's decreasing value on the NASDAQ. On Friday, the day of the IPO, the firm was valued at over $100bn but that has has been more than decimated, dropping by $16bn in under a week. Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reports.
