Mark Zuckerberg Rings The NASDAQ Bell As Shares Of Facebook Stock Go On Sale

Shares of Facebook officially go on sale today on the New York Stock Exchange and Facebook creator/CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on hand this morning to ring the bell to start trading. The hoodie-wearing Zuckerberg did not make his way to NYC, NY to ring the bell … he did his bell ringing duty via satellite from Facebook headquarters here in California. Click below to see photos and watch video of the hallowed event and be a part of the Facebook hoopla that has taken the world by storm today.

Mark Zuckerberg, wearing his trademark hooded sweatshirt, remotely rang the bell to open the Nasdaq Friday, marking a historic share offering for Facebook that confirms the growing importance of the social network giant. Amid a crowd at Facebook’s California headquarters, Zuckerberg and hundreds of employees cheered as the 28-year-old co-founder rang the bell via video for the New York-based Nasdaq. Facebook shares were to start trading later in the day in the richest-ever initial public offering for a technology firm. Zuckerberg wore a dark hoodie, unfazed by criticism from some on Wall Street about his casual attire. And most of those on hand for the ceremony were wearing similar sweatshirts or T-shirts. The company’s stock, priced at $38 per share, was to begin trading under the symbol “FB” on the Nasdaq, giving the leading website a dizzying value of $104 billion at its market debut. The IPO raised more than $16 billion, making it the richest after that of financial giant Visa in 2008, according to Renaissance Capital. The addition of a possible stock “over-allotment” could boost the total to $18.4 billion. Facebook itself is selling 180 million shares and early investors in the company the remaining 241 million. With a market value of $104 billion, Facebook is now among the most valuable US companies, ahead of sector giants Amazon ($98 billion) and Cisco ($89 billion), and more than twice the value of Ford Motor Co. ($38 billion). But it remains behind Google ($203 billion) and Apple ($495 billion).

I’ll admit that I’m not well schooled on the ways of the stock market but it’s impossible not to be aware of what is going on today. Facebook, that “little” social networking site that a great many of us spend a lot of time using on a daily (hourly, minutely) basis, is already a force to be reckoned with but by going public … it has the chance to become an even bigger phenomenon. Some claim that Facebook could become the world’s first trillion dollar company. A TRILLION DOLLARS! I honestly cannot comment with any authority about what may come from this sale of Facebook stock but I have a feeling that today is the start of a whole new chapter for the company. Will Facebook get even bigger than it is now? I guess we’ll see. As for those $38 pieces of stock … are you gonna buy up some shares today?

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