Who owns Facebook

The site of the social network Facebook, launched at the beginning of 2004 by students at Harvard University, very quickly gained popularity not only among students of American educational institutions, but also around the world. Today, the site registers several million unique visitors every month. As a public company, Facebook does not have a sole owner; FB shares have been listed on the stock exchange since May 2012.

CBS Marketwatch CEO Larry Kramer, in an analytic review, provides data on who owns Facebook shares. About 30% of the company's assets belong to employees of the social network. Project founder Mark Zuckerberg owns approximately 24% of the shares, Dustin Moskovits - 6%, Eduardo Saverin - 5%, Sean Parker owns 4%. The largest shareholder after Zuckerberg is DST, which owns about 10% of the FB.

According to RIA Novosti, on May 18, 2012, Facebook shares began to be traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange during a financial transaction for an initial public offering (IPO). It should be recalled that an IPO (first public offering of securities) is one way to attract additional investment. The fact of Facebook’s participation in the IPO implies a high assessment by potential investors of the economic efficiency of the issuing company.

On the day the participation of Facebook shares in the open sale began, there were some oddities. The booming demand for securities of the social network by future co-owners led to a failure in the technical system of the exchange. Reuters reported that as a result, several financial companies that became intermediaries in the sale of shares lost more than $ 100 million. Malfunctions in the system led to delays in processing applications from a number of investors who wished to purchase shares in the social network. Affected investors and brokers have already filed lawsuits against the Nasdaq exchange, demanding compensation for losses.

According to analysts at the Moscow Stock Center, Facebook was too inadequately priced at the start of trading, which also affected quotes. The point is that the FB does not have real assets in the amount in which it was estimated. In addition, due to the non-obviousness of the business model used by Facebook, it is very difficult to make a forecast of the long-term dynamics of the company's financial indicators. The IPO triumph was also somewhat cooled by the fact that some shareholders accused the company and the organizers of the initial public offer of shares in hiding essential information.