Facebook stock, which is expected to go on sale this Friday, will be a little pricier than some may have anticipated. Although the company planned to sell shares between $29 and $34, the buzz generated during Zuckerberg’s IPO roadshow has caused the price to jump to between $34 and $38. Facebook filed an amendment to their IPO registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to reflect the changes.
“The roadshow was certainly effective with the general public, mostly through coverage in the general media. I can’t really assess what it did with investment professionals. But there is widespread interest,” said Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil.
The increase comes in the wake of Zuckerberg’s decision to wear a hoodie to meetings with investors, which some claimed showed “immaturity” and a lack of seriousness about the company. However, with a recent poll showing that most people consider Facebook to be a passing fad, things could get complicated for the company down the road. To make matters worse, GM just pulled their ads from the website, claiming that their Facebook campaign wasn’t working. Clearly, this sort of news couldn’t have arrived at more inopportune moment.
Zuckerberg has also assured investors that he plans to address the company’s problems monetizing its mobile applications. According to reports, the company is making next to nothing in the market, though Facebook claims that it’s working on ways to generate revenue from those who use the site in a nontraditional manner.
If Facebook officially sets the price between $34 and $38, the company’s valuation could jump to an astronomical $100 billion. That is a lot of zeroes.
