Facebook IPO: What happens now [Video]
Speculation is over. The world finally knows Facebook shares are going for $38 apiece when they begin to trade on Nasdaq on Friday morning. But what happens now?
With all the interest in ticker symbol FB, everyone involved wants to make sure all the I’s are dotted and Ts are crossed before trading starts, said Los Angeles Times markets reporter Walter Hamilton.
“What’s happening right now is the brokerage firms that are handling the deal -- roughly two dozen plus -- are now parceling out the shares to their clients,” he said. “All the big institutions as well as a handful of individual investors who got the stock. It’s going to land in their brokerage account. They’re also funneling all the ‘buy’ orders that they’re getting from all over the world.”
On Friday when trading begins, Hamilton said, huge volume is expected “as befitting a record-setting IPO like this.”
Normally, the shares would start trading at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time, when the stock market opens. However, he said, “because there’s going to be such huge volume and because the Nasdaq wants to make sure it gets it right, trading is going to begin at roughly 8 a.m. Pacific time.”
As he said, the trading action will be closely watched. We’ll certainly be covering it here at Tech Now and our sister blog Money & Co.
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