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Facebook likes Nasdaq for its listing, unfriends NYSE
Popular social networking site Facebook, which will soon launch its initial public offering, has zeroed in on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange to list its shares, a media report said.
Popular social networking site Facebook, which will soon launch its initial public offering, has zeroed in on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange to list its shares, a media report said.
Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook has chosen the city-based Nasdaq over the New York Stock Exchange for its listing, the New York Times reported on Friday.
The social network will list its shares under the ticker symbol ‘FB’, the Times quoted people with knowledge of the matter as saying.
The report said getting a company like Facebook to list on it is a “significant coup” for Nasdaq, which has been “embroiled in a battle with the New York Stock Exchange for the darlings of Silicon Valley”.
Companies like LinkedIn and Pandora Media chose NYSE for their listings even as technology giants like Apple and Google have preferred Nasdaq.
“It’s a high-profile win for their listings business,” analyst Michael Adams said. “In terms of earnings, the impact won’t be dramatic, but it’s something to be proud of.”
Facebook’s IPO, expected next month, has generated unprecedented interest since it is expected to be the largest offering since Google went public in 2004. Its 800 million users and $3.7 billion in revenue have made it the most popular social networking site and a magnet for advertisers.
The IPO could value the social network at about $100 billion and with a possible offering of $5 billion, the Facebook listing will be the largest in Nasdaq’s history, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.
Nasdaq was the “undisputed” leader for technology IPOs till a few years ago but it has been facing competition from the NYSE, which has spent considerable energy to get upcoming internet companies on its side.
