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Facebook IPO filing reportedly due ‘as early as next week’
posted by Technology @ 2:47 PM
Friday, January 27, 2012
Facebook's initial public offering has been anticipated for months and is speculated to be worth as much as $100 billion whenever it arrives.
And right about now, that's the biggest question for the world's largest social network — when will the IPO filing arrive?
According to a Friday report from the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, Facebook could file for its IPO "as early as next week."
When next week? The Journal says "Facebook could file papers for the IPO as early as this coming Wednesday, but that timing is still being discussed, said a person familiar with the matter."
Facebook, for its part, hasn't said when its inevitable IPO will arrive, but the rumor mill is in high gear.
On Wendesday, multiple reports said that the Menlo Park, Calif., company had temporarily suspended trading of company shares on private markets so it could tally up just how many shareholders it has — a move sometimes made ahead of an IPO.
The IPO is expected to be the largest of the year and possibly the decade and, as noted by the Times' Jessica Guynn and Walter Hamilton, it could turn as many as 1,000 Facebook employees into millionaires. Facebook has more than 800 million users worldwide and it's expected to also reach 1 billion users soon as well.
Wall Street clicks 'like' on Facebook IPO
Facebook reportedly suspends share trading ahead of IPO
Facebook IPO: Could Facebook be worth more than $100 billion?
– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+
Photo: Facebook's thumbs-up "Like" icon is displayed on a sign at the company's new campus in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook hopes to accommodate over 6,000 employees on the new campus, which is spread out over a million square feet of office space. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Facebook reportedly suspends share trading ahead of IPO
posted by Technology @ 2:09 PM
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Facebook Inc. has reportedly frozen the trading of its shares on secondary markets through Friday, a move that might be made in preparation for the company's expected initial public offering.
Buy and sell orders can be made, but the world's largest social network won't approve or reject any transaction Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, according to a reports from both Bloomberg News and the New York Times, which each cited unnamed sources.
Officials at Facebook were unavailable for comment on the reports Wednesday, but for months speculation has been rampant over just when the Palo Alto company would sell stock on public markets for the first time.
As we've reported before, Facebook's IPO, whenever it comes, could be as worth as much as $10 billion, which would place the social networking giant's market value at more than $100 billion.
The move to temporarily suspend trading might be taking place so Facebook can get a count on just how many shareholders it has among employees, investors and traders who picked up company stock on private secondary markets. Or the freeze may be attributable to Facebook preparing a pre-IPO prospectus of its financial information, Bloomberg said, noting that companies don't want secondary-market investors trading stock with the prospectus out before going public.
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– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+
Photo: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows off the Timeline view at the company's F8 developer conference in September in San Francisco. Credit: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
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As Apple shares jump, firm briefly passes Exxon as most valuable
posted by Technology @ 12:04 PM
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Apple Inc.'s blowout quarter has pushed the electronics maker back into a neck-and-neck race with Exxon Mobil Corp. for the title of the world's most valuable company.
On Wednesday, Apple's stock opened at $454, nearly 7% higher than it had closed on Tuesday, and an all-time high for the company. That put its market value at north of $418 billion, surpassing Exxon Mobil, which had a slower start to its trading day as its market value shrank to around $413 billion.
But the two later switched places as Apple shares erased some of their gains and Exxon climbed back into first place with a market cap of $416 billion, about a billion ahead of Apple.
[Update, 11:06 a.m.: Apple is back on top, $417 billion to $415 billion.]
Apple has passed Exxon a few times over the last year, only to be leapfrogged once again by the oil company. Both companies have seen their stock price and market value shoot up in the list six months. In August, when Apple first passed Exxon, the companies' market value was each closer to $339 billion.
On Tuesday, Apple said that during its holiday quarter it had sold 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads, both sales records for the company, and far outstripping analysts' expectations. Chief executive Tim Cook said Apple had been having trouble keeping up with demand for the new iPhone 4S.
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– David Sarno
Photo: Thousands of Chinese customers queue up outside an Apple store in Beijing. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
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Apple earnings: $97.6 billion in the bank, and other highlights
posted by Technology @ 5:21 PM
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Apple just reported its best quarter of all time, as covered by my colleague David Sarno here on the Technology blog.
The Cupertino tech giant reported a boost in sales of iPads, iPhones and Mac computers (but not iPods), pushing it into a record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and $13 billion in profit for the first quarter of the company's 2012 fiscal year.
Let's take a closer look at Apple's huge numbers for the quarter ended Dec. 31, which showed strong holiday sales and sent shares in the company up 8% after the markets closed Tuesday.
Cash balance — One major number to note from Apple's earnings report, as mentioned in its earnings call, is that the company has a cash balance of $97.6 billion, up from $81 billion a year ago.
That's a massive amount to be sitting in the bank and it's a sum Apple will spend in part on developing new products that will help it remain competitive against rivals such as Samsung, Sony, HTC and Motorola.
Revenue — Apple racked up $46.33 billion in sales in the 14-week quarter, which is up from $26.74 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Profit — The tech giant reported a $13-billion profit last quarter, which is more than double the profit the company reported for its first fiscal quarter of 2011.
IPhones — Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, which marks 128% growth from a year earlier, when the company sold 16.25 million iPhones.
IPads — Sales of the ever-popular Apple tablet grew 111% when compared to the year-earlier quarter, with 15.43 million iPads sold for the company's fiscal 2012 first quarter versus 7.33 million iPads sold in the first quarter of 2011.
IPods — The iPod isn't dead yet, but it is on the decline. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods last quarter, down 21% from 19.45 million iPods sold a year earlier.
Mac computers — Apple's Mac line of desktop and laptop PCs — which includes MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Minis and the Mac Pro — saw a 26% increase in sales from the year-ago quarter, with 5.2 million Macs sold in the first fiscal quarter of 2012 and 4.13 million Macs sold in the first fiscal quarter of 2011.
"Portables," which would include the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, made up the majority of Macs purchased, with 3.71 million units sold last quarter, up from 2.9 million sold a year ago. Apple sold 1.48 million desktops last quarter, up from 1.23 million sold a year earlier.
Looking ahead, Apple said Tuesday that it is projecting it will record about $32.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter of its fiscal year.
[Updated: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Apple's profit for the first quarter of its fiscal year was $6 billion. Apple reported a $13 billion profit last quarter and recorded $6 billion in profit a year earlier.]
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– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+
Photo: An Apple Store in San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Apple reports record sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs
posted by Technology @ 3:27 PM
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Apple Inc. is selling a whole lot of just about every product it makes — and investors are loving it.
The company's stock shot up more than 8% after it announced that the holiday quarter was its best ever, with revenue and profit setting all-time records. Apple sold more iPhones, iPads and Mac computers than in any three-month period in its history.
The company smashed Wall Street projections with revenue of $46.33 billion in the three-month period ended Dec. 31, more than $7 billion more than analysts had expected and a 74% increase over its quarterly revenue from a year earlier. Profit was just as strong: Apple's $13.06 billion in earnings beat analysts' expectations by $3 billion, and the number more than doubled from the same quarter a year earlier.
"They just demolished it," said analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. "Everyone thought they were too big — that there was too much information out there and they couldn't pull off a surprise like this, but boy did they ever."
Apple's bestselling product continued to be its iPhone. The company sold 37.04 million of the devices, by far eclipsing its iPhone sales record of 20.3 million set in the April to June quarter. It also took a leap forward with its iPad, selling 15.43 million units of the tablet computer — more than 4 million more than it had sold last quarter in its previous quarter. Apple sold 5.2 million Mac computers, beating its mark of 4.9 million, also set last quarter.
“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Chief Executive Tim Cook in a statement. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."
Analysts expect that Apple will have a strong year of new products, possibly announcing a new iPad in March, a newly redesigned iPhone during the summer and potentially an Apple-branded television set later in the year.
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– David Sarno
Photo: Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, discusses a new textbook initiative in New York last week. Credit: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press
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Larry Page's honeymoon at the helm of Google may be officially over.
Google reported strong fourth-quarter revenue and profit results after the market closed Thursday (including quarterly revenue of $10.58 billion, its highest for a single quarter) but they missed analyst expectations.
Revenue in the three months ended in December rose to $8.13 billion, with earnings per share of $9.50. Analysts had expected $8.43 billion and $10.51.
Google shares plunged $59.08, or 9%, to $579.30 in after-hours trading.
Page, the chief executive, did not acknowledge the shortfalls in a statement: "Google had a really strong quarter ending a great year."
He added that the company's Google+ social network has grown to 90 million users, more than double the number it announced in October.
Google is also continuing its hiring spree. It hired more than 1,000 people in the last three months of the year. It now has 32,467 full-time staffers.
Despite concerns that Google is spending loads of money, Wall Street had seemed more confident that Page was the right steward to keep Google's moneymaking machine on track. The stock had gained 7% since Page took over as CEO last April.
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– Jessica Guynn
Photo: Google co-founder Larry Page looks on during a product launch on February 24, 2010. Photo credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
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SoundCloud reportedly raises $50 million and adds board member
posted by Technology @ 7:56 PM
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
As we've reported, SoundCloud is a company that wants to become the YouTube of audio, and on Tuesday it announced two moves that may help make that happen.
First off, SoundCloud has closed a major funding round. How much? The Berlin company, with an office in San Francisco, isn't saying, but TechCrunch Europe has reported that it may be as much as $50 million.
The new funding round, led by the investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with GGV Capital also contributing, will go toward allowing the site to "expand more rapidly," SoundCloud said in a statement. In June, SoundCloud said that it had more than 5 million users.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is well-known in the tech industry for investing in Google, Amazon, Zynga and other high-profile companies.
Secondly, Mary Meeker, a renowned tech analyst and partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is joining SoundCloud's board of directors.
Meeker also sits on the board at mobile payment startup Square and is "actively involved" in the firm's investments in Groupon, Legalzoom, Waze, 360buy.com, Spotify, Jawbone, One King's Lane and Trendyol, SoundCloud said.
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– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+
Image: A screen shot of Nathan Olivarez-Giles' SoundCloud page. Credit: SoundCloud
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Report: Investment banks compete for lead role in Facebook IPO
posted by Technology @ 4:44 PM
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Top Wall Street investment banks are competing to be the lead bankers for Facebook's blockbuster initial public offering, which could come in early 2012.
That's according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which also says that the Menlo Park, Calif., company held a new round of meetings with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley after Thanksgiving.
The paper reported last week that Facebook would take the stock public in the second quarter of 2012. The IPO could peg the worth of Facebook at $100 billion or more and could generate as much as $10 billion. That would give bankers a 2.2% cut, or as much as $220 million. But Facebook may negotiate lower fees.
Goldman Sachs mishandled a private placement deal earlier this year and had to limit the offering to investors outside of the U.S. Morgan Stanley recently was the lead banker in the Zynga IPO, but its shares have mostly traded below the offering price.
Representatives for Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Facebook declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal. "As is our typical practice, we just don't get into speculation about an IPO," a Facebook spokesman told me.
The Facebook IPO is widely anticipated. Facebook board member Peter Thiel said last year that Facebook would consider going public in 2012.
"It's a consumer-facing company, which makes it very interesting to people. People can relate to it," Thiel told the Los Angeles Times in an interview last year. "It's somewhat of a unique thing. There is a lot of intensity surrounding it."
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– Jessica Guynn
Photo: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at an event in November 2010 in San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
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RIM to take $485 million loss on unsold BlackBerry PlayBook inventory
posted by Technology @ 10:49 AM
Friday, December 2, 2011
Research In Motion said Friday that it will take a $485 million loss on its unsold BlackBerry PlayBook tablet inventory, sending shares in the company down about 8% in day trading after the announcement.
The news is the latest setback for the PlayBook and RIM as a whole, which has had a rough year so far with multiple product delays, no carriers offer up a 3G or 4G version of the PlayBook, layoffs, service outages, shrinking market share, disappointing earnings results and sliding stock prices.
"As previously disclosed, RIM has a high level of BlackBerry PlayBook inventory," the Canadian company said in a statement. "The Company now believes that an increase in promotional activity is required to drive sell-through to end customers. This is due to several factors, including recent shifts in the competitive dynamics of the tablet market and a delay in the release of the PlayBook OS 2.0 software."
The significant loss, which is technically called a pre-tax provision, will allow RIM to expand its marketing push around the PlayBook in a bid to boost sales, the statement said.
But while the PlayBook has been painfully costly for RIM so far, the company said it isn't planning on giving up on that tablet market.
"RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook and believes the tablet market is still in its infancy," Mike Lazaridis, RIM's co-CEO, said in the statement. "Although a number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter, we believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise."
Lazaridis said that the response to PlayBook sales promotions so far have shown a "significant increase in demand across most channels."
Still, the numbers are small compared with the sales of competing tablets. RIM said in its statement that it sold about 150,000 PlayBook tablets to retailers in the quarter ended Nov. 26 "and sell-through to end customers, based on RIM's internal data, was higher than this amount."
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– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Photo: The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from Research in Motion. Credit: Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Los Angeles Times
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Facebook settles privacy complaint with Federal Trade Commission
posted by Technology @ 11:12 AM
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Facebook has settled charges with the Federal Trade Commission that it deceived users by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private and then repeatedly making it public, according to the agency.
The settlement of an eight-count complaint requires Facebook to warn users about privacy changes and to get their permission before sharing their information more broadly, according to the FTC. Facebook has agreed to 20 years of privacy audits, it said.
"Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users," Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, said in a written statement. "Facebook's innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not."
In a blog post, Facebook founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is committed to giving its users "complete control" over what they share and with whom.
"I also understand that many people are just naturally skeptical of what it means for hundreds of millions of people to share so much personal information online, especially using any one service. Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It's important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don't think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust," he wrote. "I'm committed to making Facebook the leader in transparency and control around privacy."
Facebook also has created two new positions to make sure it takes privacy seriously, Zuckerberg said.
Erin Egan, a former partner with Covington & Burling, will become chief privacy officer for policy. Michael Richter, Facebook’s chief privacy counsel, will take on a new role as chief privacy officer for products.
Privacy watchdog Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the settlement shows that Facebook "has long misled users and the public."
But another frequent critic, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), applauded the settlement.
"The settlement's privacy protections will benefit Facebook users and should serve as a new, higher standard for other companies to follow in their own efforts to protect consumers' privacy online," Markey said in a written statement. "When it comes to its users' privacy, Facebook’s policy should be: ‘Ask for permission, don’t assume it."
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– Jessica Guynn
Photo: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg greets a student as he arrives to speak at Harvard University. Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard in 2004, met with students as part of an East Coast trip to recruit for the social networking company. Photo credit: Kelvin Ma / Bloomberg
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Facebook’s IPO: Could it come in the first half of 2012?
posted by Technology @ 8:56 PM
Monday, November 28, 2011
Facebook's initial public offering has been the source of Wall Street speculation for months. Some thought the IPO would come this year, others have reported that it wouldn't arrive until late next year.
And on Monday, the Wall Street Journal added fuel to the Facebook IPO fire with a report that the world's largest social network, with more than 800 million users, is prepping to issue its first public stock offering in the second quarter of 2012.
The Facebook IPO could be a $10-billion offering based on a $100-billion valuation of the Palo Alto-based company. But as to when in the second quarter the IPO would come, well that hasn't yet been decided, the Journal said in its report, citing unnamed "people familiar with the matter."
As reported by my colleague Walter Hamilton over on our sister-blog Money & Company:
The timing of Facebook's IPO is likely to hinge in part on the condition of the stock market, which has not been kind lately to some other prominent tech IPOs.
In a major disappointment, shares of one of this year's most closely watched IPOs, online-coupon company Groupon Inc., have plunged recently. The stock closed Monday at $15.24, far below the $20 price at which it sold shares to investors earlier this month.
Earlier this month, Facebook co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a PBS interview with Charlie Rose that indeed, his company was planning an IPO, but that the company hadn't yet decided when.
Zuckerberg also said that an IPO isn't something he spent "a lot of time on a day-to-day basis thinking about."
"We've made this implicit promise to our investors and to our employees that by compensating them with equity and by giving them equity, that at some point we're going to make that equity worth something publicly and liquidly, in a liquid way," he said. "Now, the promise isn't that we're going to do it on any kind of short-term time horizon. The promise is that we're going to build this company so that it's great over the long term, right. And that we're always making these decisions for the long term, but at some point we'll do that."
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– Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Photo: Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks around Harvard University in Cambridge on Nov. 7, 2011. Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters
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