Facebook IPO: After the Hype, Investors are Betting on Hope

One year ago tomorrow, social networking phenomenon Facebook went public in one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings of the last decade. Leading up to the IPO, which valued the company at a whopping $104 billion — or 100 times earnings — the hype was intense. Facebook, market prognosticators predicted, would soar in the first day of trading, generating easy gains for the investors who rushed for a piece of the action.

One year ago tomorrow, social networking phenomenon Facebook went public in one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings of the last decade. Leading up to the IPO, which valued the company at a whopping $104 billion — or 100 times earnings — the hype was intense. Facebook, market prognosticators predicted, would soar in the first day of trading, generating easy gains for the investors who rushed for a piece of the action.

Unlike any other CEO in history, Mark Zuckerberg has truly grown up before our eyes.

By Wade Slome: If you don’t pay close enough attention, you may miss the Facebook initial public offering (IPO) in the blink of an eye. Since computer programming or Botox has frozen Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s face into a wide-eyed, blink-free state, you may have bought yourself a little more time to buy shares in this imminent IPO, which is estimated to value the company at upwards of $100 billion. Photo source: Photobucket

For a long time, Facebook was the most dramatic, exciting company in Silicon Valley, if not the world. Its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was a global icon thanks to his remarkably young age. Before 23, he became a subject of intense scrutiny and hero-worship.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin congratulated his fellow co-founder and company CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a job well done, crafting a dorm room start-up into the largest tech company IPO in history in just eight years.