Technology, Facebook Stock | featured news

Facebook executives including Sheryl Sandberg have sold a portion of their stock in the social site as restrictions on insider sales at the company have lapsed.

Facebook Inc.'s stock took a hit Monday after an article in the financial magazine Barron's said it is "still too pricey" despite a sharp decline since its initial public offering.

Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg might need to talk more often. A 30-minute appearance at a technology industry conference earlier this week has translated into $6.785 billion in additional market valuation for his company.

Facebook shares scraped a new low
Tuesday. The new drag on the already leaden stock:
Analysts from two of Facebook’s largest
underwriters on its botched initial public
stock offering cut their price targets.

Facebook Inc promised not to sell stock to cover a nearly $2 billion tax bill and said it will allow employees to cash in their stock weeks ahead of schedule, moving to soothe nervous investors and its own staff as its share price spirals downward.

Facebook Inc. received final approval Wednesday for its purchase of photo-sharing application Instagram Inc., clearing the way for a cash-and-stock deal that has lost about a quarter of its value since an agreement in April.

With the value of its shares down over 50 percent since its highly anticipated IPO, is the company making a hash of the public relations disaster it is now facing; and, just as important, why has Zuckerberg remained quiet about the state of the company?

Facebook's beleaguered stock has lost more than half of its value since its initial public offering three months ago. Facebook Inc. hit a new low of $18.75 before bouncing back to $19.01 - down 4 cents - in morning trading Monday. The social networking icon's much-anticipated IPO turned sour amid technical problems on the NASDAQ stock market and high expectations. The stock has not surpassed its $38 IPO price since its first trading day.

Facebook Inc shares sank as much 4.3 percent on Friday to set a new low, a day after early investors got the green light to sell for the first time. More than 270 million shares owned by the early investors became available for trade on Thursday after a 3-month curb on sales ended. That's more than one-half the 421 million shares sold in its initial public offering on May 18.

Facebook's stock plunged to a new low Thursday after the expiration of a ban that had prevented some early investors and insiders from dumping millions of additional shares they own in the social-networking leader.