1
The Bell Tolls
Half the company it used to be
Figure 1-1. Facebook’s closing stock price following its 2012 IPO(May 18–September 4)
On September 4, 2012, 109 days after standing up in front of an expectant world as the second largest stock market initial public offering (IPO) in US history, Facebook’s stock closed at $17.73, 53%—and more than $50 billion in value—below its hopeful origin as not just a public company but as a referendum on social media. (See Figure 1-1.)
A referendum on Mark Zuckerberg—the wunderkind who had been fictionally immortalized in an Oscar-winning Aaron Sorkin screenplay—for whom “a million wasn’t cool.”
A referendum ...
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