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Tag: Stock

  • Twitter IPO Coming by Year’s End Says Analyst

    Another analyst has weighed in the expected Twitter IPO, and he thinks that it’s going to come sooner than others have predicted.

    Sam Hamadeh, CEO of PrivCo, a New York-based private company research firm, says that we can expect Twitter to go public by the end of the year – probably the fourth quarter. He cites a “source high up at Twitter” when making this prediction.

    Here’s his rationale:

    “By the time Facebook [made its market debut], it had been formally monetizing for four years and its growth rate was slowing,” notes Hamadeh. Meanwhile, if Twitter files to go public at the end of this year, it will hit just the right inflection point, where its revenue is growing in the triple digits, from $80 or $90 million in 2011 to $250 million last year and what we expect will be $500 million in revenue in 2013.”

    Basically, Facebook waited too long and Twitter doesn’t want to make the same mistake.

    According to Hamadeh, Twitter will price its IPO at $15 billion.

    Last week, Greencrest Capital analyst Mas Wolff put Twitter’s valuation at $11 billion, saying that it was up since the Facebook IPO back in May 2012. He said that Twitter would be making preparations to go public this year, and launch the IPO some time in 2014.

    Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has been notoriously quick to douse any and all IPO fires that have been lit in the past year or so. He’s made it clear that Twitter was in no rush to go public, and that Twitter needed to be patient in the way they built the business.

    [via peHUB]

  • Amazon Record High Attributed To Morgan Stanley Comments

    Amazon stock hit a record high on Monday, reaching as high as $269.30 at one point.

    Bloomberg attributes the spike to statements made by Morgan Stanely, who said the company’s network of distribution centers will help it gain marketshare as global ecommerce grows. Bloomberg quotes analyst Scott Devitt:

    Amazon is investing across the company to boost the volume of products sold on its site, adding features to its Kindle line of e-readers and tablets and beefing up its inventory and shipping network. The efforts may help Amazon gain share in a worldwide e-commerce market that Scott Devitt, an analyst a Morgan Stanley, estimated will reach $1 trillion by 2016, up from $512 billion last year, By then, Amazon’s share will be 23.5 percent, pushing net sales to $166 billion, he predicted.

    “Amazon.com’s fulfillment network is an under appreciated, strategic asset.” Devitt wrote in the Jan. 6 report. He had previously projected 2016 sales of $145 billion and a 20.6 percent market share. “Companies, such as Amazon.com, that have the ability to decrease variable unit costs in exchange for fixed-costs will have the opportunity to expand margins and take share.”

    In other Amazon news, the company launched Instant Video Finder today, making it easier for users to browse content. Last week, the company inked a deal with A+E Networks to bring shows like Pawn Stars and Storage Wars to Amazon Prime Instant Video. Last month, it made a similar deal for TNT shows.

    As of the time of this writing, Amazon shares are at $268.46 (+9.31‎, 3.59%‎), after opening at $262.97.

  • Twitter Valued at $11 Billion, IPO Coming in 2014 Says Analyst

    Soon after Facebook filed its documents and made its intentions to go public known, people started speculating about when Twitter would take the plunge with their own offering. In a leaked email, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that his company didn’t want to be public until they “have very predictable quarterly earnings growth,” and added that Twitter wasn’t “ready to be a public company for a couple years.” These private comments echoed public comments Costolo has made about being patient in the way they build the business.

    But is the time nearing for an IPO? One firm believes so. According to a report from Greencrest Capital, they believe that Twitter may being preparations to go public sometime in 2013 and the offering would come in 2014.

    Greencrest uses recent managerial shifts to back up their claim, pointing to Ali Rowghani’s move from CFO to COO, and the addition of ex-Zynga guy Mike Gupta as CFO. Also, Newsvine’s Mike Davidson is now on board as VP of design.

    Also, Twitter is undoubtedly better positioned to generate revenue than ever before as their promoted products offerings continue to expand.

    Max Wolff, and analyst with Greencrest, now puts Twitter’s projected valuation at $11 billion. He says that Twitter’s valuation is up since the Facebook IPO.

    He makes this valuation based on secondary market trading, but makes this caveat:

    “Using the secondary market for shares to mark enterprise value is a very difficult and opaque process. It is a rumor rich and special share class soup.”

    That being said, an $11 billion valuation is up a few billion from the last time we heard a valuation based on secondary markets back in July of 2011. And although $11 billion is barely 10% of the astronomical $100 billion figure we heard for Facebook when the IPO rumors began, Wolff says that Twitter’s valuation “looks better” than Facebook’s.

    A few weeks ago, Twitter announced 200 million MAUs.

    [via Forbes]

  • Sheryl Sandberg Sells Nearly a Million Facebook Shares

    Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has just sold nearly a million shares of Facebook stock, netting her just over $26 million.

    According to an SEC filing, Sandberg sold 946,588 shares, which came out to be $26.2 million. The shares were sold at prices ranging from $27.30 to $27.90 a share. On Friday, that day that Sandberg sold off her shares, Facebook closed at $27.49 a share. Facebook stock has been on the rebound after going through a rough patch back a couple of months ago. At one point, the stock plunged into the high teens. At the IPO, the stock began at $38 a share.

    Sandberg, who has served as Facebook COO since 2008, just recently became the first female member of the company’s Board of Directors.

    This is Sandberg’s biggest Facebook stock sale ever. In her previous two sales, the Facebook COO sold $4.2 million worth of shares and $7.4 million.

    You can see the official SEC filing here.

  • Netflix Stock on the Rise Following Huge Disney Deal

    Netflix Stock on the Rise Following Huge Disney Deal

    Today, Netflix and the Walt Disney company made a pretty huge announcement. Starting in 2016, the company will be the exclusive streamers of the first-run of Disney’s huge theatrical catalog – meaning films from Pixar, Marvel, and Walt Disney Animation Studios as well. It’s a big deal because it allows Netflix to stream the films inside the pay TV window. That means that as soon as the films would be available on services like HBO or cable on-demand, Netflix will have them. Even though it’s not set to start until 2016, it’s a step forward for the streaming subscription service, who is accustomed to getting content weeks after it’s been available in the pay TV period.

    Wall Street is reacting positively to the news, as Netflix stock has jumped over 14% following the news:

    As part of the deal, Netflix will also receive rights to Disney’s straight-to-video selections as well as an extension on the back catalog of classics like Dumbo and Pocahontas.

    “For us, this is a really big deal – for the first time in our largest market – new Disney movies will be available when and where you want to watch them on Netflix rather than on a premium cable channel,” said Netflix VP of content acquisition Pauline Fischer. “Through this new partnership with Disney, one of the best known global names in family entertainment, Netflix is giving our members even more high quality films to enjoy.”

    “Disney and Netflix have shared a long and mutually beneficial relationship and this deal will bring to our subscribers, in the first pay TV window, some of the highest-quality, most imaginative family films being made today,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. “It’s a bold leap forward for Internet television and we are incredibly pleased and proud this iconic family brand is teaming with Netflix to make it happen.”

    A bold leap forward for internet television, indeed. Will other studios follow suit and start looking at streaming services like Netflix for exclusive pay TV window deals?

  • Google Stock Hits Record High On Monday

    Google Stock Hits Record High On Monday

    Google shares hit an all-time high on Monday, at one point reaching $748.90, according to CNN Money. As of the time of this writing, shares are at: $748.21 (+14.22‎, 1.94%‎).

    The publication attributes the rise to continued search domination and strides made with Android (a reported 68% share of the global smartphone market during the second quarter).

    Some are pointing to the negativity that has surrounded Google rival Apple in the maps departement, since the release of iOS 6 and the iPhone 5. It seems unlikely that this is directly responsible for the immediate uptick in Google shares, but Google may have some further monetization efforts on the horizon when it comes to maps. Earlier, we looked at a new patent application from the company related to showing ads on maps. It sure doesn’t seem like something that would turn investors off.

    Apple stock is actually down today, at $684.24 (-15.85‎, -2.26%‎) at the time of this writing, after the company sold over 5 million iPhone 5s in the first weekend of availability.

  • Apple Stock Hits All Time High As iPhone 5 Launches

    Earlier this week, Apple announced that iPhone 5 pre-orders had topped 2 million in the first 24 hours. That impressive figure broke the record previously held by the iPhone 4S, which saw 1 million pre-orders in its first 24 on the market. That news pushed Apple stock over $700 (in after-hours trading) for the first time in the company’s history.

    Today, Apple Stock hit a new all-time high. As of 3pm ET, it sits at just over $702 a share, up .5% on the day. But earlier, the price hit $705.07, a new record for the company. It hasn’t dipped below $700 all day.

    Of course, the spike in stock price can be attributed to the launch of the iPhone 5, which hit stores in nine countries today. The new phone will come to 22 other countries in a week from today. By all accounts, the iPhone 5 launch has been a big success, with Apple Stores across the world drawing big crowds.

    Some analysts have predicted that the iPhone 5 could eventually drive the price of Apple stock to a staggering $850. The iPhone 5 is expected to sell between 6-8 million units in it’s first weekend on the shelves.

    appel stock $705

    The early reviews for the device have ranged from positive to glowing. One of the only early setbacks seems to be disappointment in the new Apple Maps, which replaced Google Maps in iOS 6. But of course, that’s more of a beef with the operating system than with the actual iPhone 5.

  • iPhone 5 Ship Time Slips to 3-4 Weeks

    If you’re still looking to pre-order the new iPhone 5, I hope you’re not still looking to pre-order the iPhone 5. At this point, you could be waiting up to a month for it to ship if you were to place your order right now.

    On Apple.com, shipping times for all models (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, Black & White) have slipped to 3 to 4 weeks.

    The new iPhone’s shipping time slipped from the original Sept. 21st target to the 28th on Apple.com within hours of the start of pre-orders. Soon, major U.S. carriers has also pushed back their shipping estimates.

    Later, we found out that the iPhone 5 had smashed first day slaes records. Apple reported that the new iPhone sold 2 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours, doubling the previous record held by the iPhone 4S. That news sent Apple stock soaring above $700, a new high for the company.

    The iPhone 5 is set to hit stores on Friday, September 21st. If you want to get your hands on one before they sell out, camping out seems like a good plan.

  • Apple Stock Tops $700 After Record-Breaking iPhone 5 Pre-orders

    Today, Apple has done something that puts the company in rarified air. In after hours trading, the company briefly broke the $700 barrier following the news that the iPhone had (unexpectedly) become the fastest-selling iPhone of all time.

    Apple’s share price closed today at $699.78, up $8.50 (1.23%). But in after hours trading, the price has breached $700 a couple of times. As it sits, Apple’s market cap is $655.98 billion.

    Last Friday, Apple opened up pre-orders on the new iPhone 5, and Apple reported that initial stock had sold out within hours. Before most people in the U.S. has even woken up, shipping dates slipped from September 21st to September 28th. On that day, Apple stock soared over 13% and flirted with $700 – but it never broke the barrier. Today, Apple can say that they’re part of an elite club that includes companies like Google and Berkshire Hathaway.

    Earlier this morning, Apple announced that the iPhone 5 had shattered the first day pre-order record by selling over 2 million devices in 24 hours. The previous record belonged to the iPhone 4S, which sold 1 million units on the first day of pre-orders. AT&T also announced that the iPhone 5 had broken their records for iPhone pre-orders.

    “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do,” said Apple’s VP of Marketing Phil Schiller. Apparently, there are plenty of people who have confidence that the iPhone 5 will be Apple’s biggest product yet.

  • Apple Stock Soars as iPhone 5 Sells Out

    Apple Stock Soars as iPhone 5 Sells Out

    Apple stock is currently sitting at record highs, thanks to enthusiasm over their new iPhone 5, which was just unveiled earlier this week.

    Instead of opening up pre-orders on the day of the big media event, Apple decided to wait until Friday, September 14th to allow eager customers to reserve their new device. Pre-order opened this morning at 12:01 am PT, and in less than a few hours Apple.com was reporting delays in shipping time.

    The original shipping date for the iPhone was September 21st, but Apple.com currently displays the time of “2 weeks,” meaning a September 28th ship date. A few hours ago, carrier sites like AT&T and Verizon still displayed the September 21st ship date, but at least Verizon is beginning to dial it back a few days. Simply put: the iPhone 5 is selling out.

    On that news, Apple stock is soaring this morning. As of 12:20 pm ET, the price sits at just shy of $700 a share at $696.82. It’s up over 13.7% since trading began.

    With the immediate enthusiasm shown by Apple customers, analysts believe that the iPhone 5 is going to be huge hit. One such analyst predicts that the iPhone 5 is set to crush the iPhone 4S in sales, and we know that the 4S was no slouch in that department.

    “Given that the iPhone 4S received over 1 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours, we indicated this week that we expected 1.3 million to 1.5 million pre-orders for the iPhone 5,” said Brian White at Topeka. “At the same time, the iPhone 4S sold over 4 million units in the first three days last year, and assuming supply chain constraints aren’t a major issue, we also have projected at least 5 million to 5.5 million iPhone 5’s can be sold in this same time frame. With similar caveats, we have projected Apple could sell 10 million to 12 million iPhone 5 units in 4QFY12, making our iPhone projections look very conservative. Given the initial demand for the iPhone 5 based on the expanded shipping times (assuming no major shortage), our estimates could prove conservative.”

    Daniel Gleeson at IHS thinks that the iPhone will be the driver for Apple to have their biggest quarter for iPhone sales ever, pushing shipments 60% year-over-year.

    Another Apple product, another record-breaking launch it seems.

  • iPhone 5 Ship Time Slips to Two Weeks on Apple.com

    iPhone 5 Ship Time Slips to Two Weeks on Apple.com

    As expected, Apple’s brand new phone is already showing signs that it’s going to be popular.

    Pre-orders for the new iPhone 5 began early this morning, and if you weren’t one of the first ones to grab your new device on Apple.com, well, you’re going to be waiting a little bit longer for yours.

    The original shipping date for the new iPhone was set as September 21st but as of this morning, all models of the iPhone 5 have a two week ship date. That’s September 28th, for the mathematically challenged.

    This includes all models – the 16Gb, 32GB, and 64GB in both black and white.

    Luckily, the ship date hasn’t changed for the carrier sites. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all show an estimated shipping date of September 21st.

    You could always forgo the pre-ordering altogether. I hear late September is a beautiful time of the year to go camping.

  • Mark Zuckerberg Won’t Be Selling FB Shares Anytime Soon

    Mark Zuckerberg Won’t Be Selling FB Shares Anytime Soon

    Facebook has filed an 8-K document with the SEC indicating that it will not move forward with a secondary stock offering, but will pay taxes on RSUs, and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg will not be selling any shares, at least for the next year. The document also indicates that Board members Marc Andreessen and Don Graham will not sell any shares, other than what they may sell to cover taxes.

    The document says:

    We have adopted an “Insider Trading Policy” that governs the trading of our securities by our directors, officers, employees and consultants. Pursuant to the terms of that policy, all of our executive officers, as well as other members of our senior management team, are required to conduct any purchase or sale transactions in our securities through atrading plan established pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 (“Rule 10b5-1 Plans”) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Under the company’s current policies, Rule 10b5-1Plans can be entered into only during an open trading window and are subject to a “cooling-off” period before any sales or purchases may occur pursuant to such a Plan.

    We understand that two of our non-employee directors, Marc Andreessen and Donald Graham, intend to satisfy taxes incurred in connection with the vesting or settlement of their RSU awards by effecting sales of our common stock. Any such sales will be conducted through Rule 10b5-1 Plans adopted in accordance with our securities trading policies.Other than such tax-related sales, Mr. Andreessen and Mr. Graham have no present intention to sell any shares of our common stock held by them personally.

    As of the date of this report, Mark Zuckerberg has not adopted a Rule 10b5-1 Plan and has informed us that he has no intention to conduct any sale transactions in our securities for at least 12 months. Mr. Zuckerberg currently holds in aggregate approximately 444 million shares of Class B common stock as well as 60 million shares of Class Bcommon stock issuable upon the exercise of an option

    TechCrunch shares the document in its entirety:

    [TechCrunch] Facebook 8-K

    Facebook stock is up 3.5% at $18.35 as of the time of this writing.

  • Facebook Stock Flirting With Going Under $18

    To say Facebook stock has struggled since their May IPO is an understatement, and the company continues to see the price fall on the heels of a report from BMO Capital.

    Today, Facebook stock hit a new all-time low, at just over $18. As it stands, the price is fluctuating a couple of cents, hovering just over the $18 mark. This is well-under half of the initial offering price, which was $38.

    BMO Capital’s Daniel Salmon told Bloomberg that “Checks on near-term paid media spending remain challenged.” In other words, Facebook is still struggling to monetize. Salmon cut his price estimate on shares from $25 to $15.

    Although Facebook stock has been on a consistent and gradual decline since the IPO, share price really took a pounding earlier this month when the lockup period requiring shareholders to hold on to stock for a designated amount of time finally came to a close. Shortly after that, the price tanked to its then-lowest point $19.76.

    A few days later, it finally crossed the $19 mark, touching down at $18.75. But it didn’t close at under $19. Today may be the first day that Facebook stock closes sub-$19.

    As of the writing of this article, the price sits at $18.08, which is down 5.28% since its opening price today. It’s lowest point today was $18.06.

    And this is Facebook’s stock price from the IPO day (May 18th) to now…

  • Facebook Stock Sits At Just Over Half of Initial Price

    For the last ten days, Facebook stock has hovered between $19.10 and $19.50 a share. In fact, the last time that it closed over $20 was exactly ten days ago, when it closed at $20.01 – up 5% from the previous day.

    Although Facebook stock has been on a steady decline since their May IPO, the price really took a pounding exactly two weeks ago when the “lockup” period ended. When Facebook went public, their IPO included a lockup agreement that forced some shareholders to hold their stock for a given amount of time. And when that lockup expired, stock plunged under $20 for the first time.

    And although the price has yet to close under $19, it has dipped its toes in that water.

    And today it opened at $19.10, just barely above 50% of the initial offering on May 18th, which was $38.

    It’s not just Facebook that’s affected by their falling stock. Yesterday, the California Department of Corporations approved the company’s deal with Instagram, meaning that the deal has cleared its final hurdle (the FTC ended its investigation last week). The initial deal was valued at $1 billion, but only $300 million was in cash. The rest was comprised of nearly 23 million shares of Facebook stock. Now, with its current price, the Facebook/Instagram deal looks to be closer to $750 million.

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that watching the stock underperform has been “painful.” He’s also said that he thinks Facebook’s ““plans and investments will pay off in the long term.”

    But hey, if you really care about Zuckerberg and Facebook’s falling stock price, you can help him keep his coins with this new flash game.

    Here’s a visual that looks at Facebook’s stock price from the first day on the market to today. Yikes:

  • Help Zuckerberg Snatch Coins, Avoid Stock Plunge with New Game

    Help Zuckerberg Snatch Coins, Avoid Stock Plunge with New Game

    As of the writing of this article, Facebook stock sits at $19.44 a share, which means that it is a little over half of the original opening price of $38. If you think that’s bad, it has been even worse in recent days. Earlier this week, the price slid to $18.75. Zuckerberg has said that it is “painful” to watch the tumble, and who can argue with that?

    But here’s what you can do. You can help Zuckerberg hold on to his gold with a new Flash game entitled “Zuck Runner.”

    The game, available at OneMoreLevel.com, runs on a simple premise – you have to collect as many coins as you can to save Facebook’s falling stock. Whiel doing that, you have to also avoid falling into crevices, stepping in lava, and various other impediments. Zuck is self-propelled across the screen, all you have to do is click your mouse to jump (holding it down longer makes Zuck jump higher).

    You can joke all you want about Facebook’s epic stock plunge, but as it currently sits, some analysts say it’s finally worth a buy. As for Zuckerberg, he’s been more active on his site than usual of of late. Between pitching grilling apps and promoting the brand new, lightning-fast Facebook for iOS app, he’s keeping himself busy

    [via All Facebook]

  • Apple Stock: Shares Soar Ahead Of iPhone 5 Release Date

    The rumored iPhone 5 release date is getting closer, and as investors anticipate the device’s launch, Apple’s stock continues to soar. Now, the company has even managed to become the most valuable company in the history of companies.

    Apple’s market value hit an astounding $622 billion today, surpassing the previous record of $618.9 billion set by Microsoft in 1999, according to CNN Money.

    As of the time of this writing, Apple shares are at $664 (+15.89‎ , 2.45%‎).

    Forbes suggests that the “iPhone 5 Frenzy” could even take Apple to $721, based on the Adam Theory of Markets. That would value Apple at somewhere around $675 billion.

    Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone on September 12, with an actual release coming the third or fourth week of September.

    Read about the latest iPhone 5 rumors here.

  • Facebook Stock Slides, Zuck Grills Steaks

    Facebook Stock Slides, Zuck Grills Steaks

    It must be a rather tense time for Zuckerberg and crew, as Facebook stock continues to plunge. Last week, the “lockup” period ended, allowing shareholders to sell their frozen shares – and the price tanked to its then-lowest point, $19.76.

    Today, Facebook stock hit $18.75, a new all-time low. As of the writing of this article it’s holding at around $19.00, which is exactly half of its $38 debut on May 18th.

    Although CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly admitted that watching the stock price plunge was “painful,” he also said that he thinks the company’s “plans and investments will pay off in the long term.” And he’s occupying his time with the great American pastime – grilling meats.

    “I updated my grilling app, iGrill, today and it now has Facebook integration that lets you see what other people are grilling right now around the world. Awesome. I’m making a Fred’s steak,” he said in a post Sunday evening.

    The steak (seen above) is a specially marinated beef steak sold at Schaub’s Market in Palo Alto. Don’t worry – Zuckerberg’s not burning his steak. Fred steak is notoriously dark in color even when raw, thanks to the marinade (which is a secret).

    Zuck’s endorsement of the iGrill app is his second recent app plug. His last post back in late June discussed how much fun he had playing the name-that-tune-like Facebook app SongPop. His Facebook subscribers know that he’s not a very frequent poster on his own site.

    Grilling a Fred Steak goes against a pledge he made back in 2011 – to only eat meat that he killed himself. Zuckerberg notoriously issues new challenges to himself every year, and alas – it is a new year. In 2012, he said that he planned to write at least some code every day.

  • Groupon Shares Hit Their Lowest Ever

    Groupon Shares Hit Their Lowest Ever

    Groupon shares have reached their lowest point since the company has been public. As of the time of this writing, shares are sitting at $5.55, down 26.49%‎.

    The nosedive occurred, following the company’s earnings release on Monday, despite the company’s 45% year-over-year increase in revenue at $568% and its operating income of $46.5 million (compared to an operating loss of $101.0 million in the year-ago period).

    Analysts believe Groupon’s slowing billings growth is a major contributor to the stock’s fall, along with the company’s lower-than-expected outlook.

    The billings growth rate was 38% (YoY) for the quarter compared to 102% in Q1. That’s a pretty drastic drop.

    Groupon expects Q3 revenue to be between $580 million and $620 million, an increase of between 35% and 44% compared with the third quarter 2011. Income from operations for Q3 is expected to be between $15 million and $35 million, compared with a loss from operations of $0.2 million in the third quarter 2011.

    Groupon shares IPO’d at $20, and hit about $30 on its opening day.

  • LinkedIn Stock: Look How Well It’s Doing

    It’s really quite remarkable how well LinkedIn stock is performing, especially considering that Facebook’s (the world’s biggest social network) hit its all time low last week.

    That’s not to say LinkedIn is worth more than Facebook, by any means, but as of the time of this writing, LinkedIn stock is sitting at $108.51. Granted, LinkedIn is slightly down (107.98‎ -0.53) in pre-market trading, but LinkedIn surged, following its Q2 earnings report last week, jumping 7% on Thursday after the report was released. On the same day, Facebook stock hit an all-time low.

    The company announced that revenue had jumped by as much as 89% year-over-year, reaching $228.2 million.

    “LinkedIn had a strong second quarter with all of our key operating and financial metrics showing solid performance,” said CEO Jeff Weiner in the report. “Our ongoing investment in product innovation drove healthy engagement as measured by unique visiting members and member page views, and our three revenue streams all experienced significant growth.”

    LinkedIn has hardly made a dent in its mobile strategy, so far, and that could mean even better things for the company’s value. WebProNews recently spoke with Kiran Prasad, who talked about how it has recently improved that strategy, and how it is confident in efforts that will soon help the company better monetize mobile.

    Not unlike the desktop version of LinkedIn, it involves ads and subscription features.

    The company is expecting more significant revenue growth in the third quarter, projecting between $235 million and $240 million. For the full year, the company is projecting $915 million to $925 million (up from previous guidance of $880 million to $900 million).

  • Facebook Stock Hits All-Time Low At Just Under $20

    After closing yesterday at $20.88 a share, Facebook stock made history today. For the first time since the company went public back in May, the price of a Facebook share dipped below $20.

    Earlier this afternoon, the price hit $19.82, which is barely half of the $38 at which the stock debuted. Save a few resurgences, the stock price has been in free-fall since Zuckerberg rang the opening bell and the company went public.

    For the last hour, the price has been hovering around the $20 mark, shifting a few cents here and there:

    The Wall Street Journal says that over the month of June, 21 different Fidelity funds sold off over 1.9 million public shares of Facebook stock. “To be sure, the sales represent a very small portion of the funds’ holdings. Also, 13 Fidelity funds bought 2.2 million shares of Facebook in June, though more than 1.3 million of those went to index funds, which passively track established stock indexes,” says the WSJ.

    Still, it’s clear the confidence in Facebook’s ability hit a home run for investors is falling rapidly. By their own admission, Facebook must successfully learn to monetize mobile, something that they are currently working on with a renewed focus on creative ad strategies.

    Just last week, Facebook reported their first earnings post-IPO. Although the company saw $1.18 billion in revenue, it was a loss (even though it beat expectations).

  • Apple Employees Get Stock Dividends, CEO Tim Cook Declines

    Apple Employees Get Stock Dividends, CEO Tim Cook Declines

    Back in March, Apple announced that their stockholders would begin receiving a dividend payment of $2.65 per share of non-restricted stock. In a document filed with the SEC yesterday, the company announced that it would also begin paying dividend equivalents to Apple employees who had been compensated with restricted stock units (RSUs). Because RSUs are not considered outstanding common stock, they would not be eligible for the dividend payment announced in March. Those employees who have been given RSUs will receive the same $2.65 per unit that shareholders will receive. when Apple starts sending out dividend payments later this year.

    Interestingly, the SEC filing specifically excludes CEO Tim Cook from the payments. Cook currently owns 1.125 million RSUs. The vast majority of those shares – 1 million of them, in fact, came to Cook when he took the CEO job last year. By declining to take the dividend equivalents on them, Cook is passing up on a potential income of $75 million.

    Cook’s reasons for doing so aren’t clear, but it’s not hard to guess. Cook is already the highest paid CEO in the country with an income of $376.2 million last year. With that much money coming at him, $75 million isn’t quite such a huge sum. It’s certainly nothing to sneeze at, but by the same token, it’s probably a small price to pay to endear himself to Apple’s stockholdiing employees.