Perhaps the biggest tech story of 2012 was the highly anticipated event of Facebook going public at a whopping, previously unheard valuation of $100 billion.
The IPO driven by gung-ho analysts and rabid media ensured that the stock was already oversubscribed forcing Facebook to issue more shares. Not since the Google IPO debut had NASDAQ witnessed such madness.
But the IPO was a damp squib from
day one, with the stock tanking on debut and in the process leaving
thousands of investors with a lighter wallet. For the first time, the
company that could do no wrong looked like a loser. Analysts had
concerns about Facebook’s flat audience growth in the US, its ability to
keep revenues growing at a fast clip and questions around how it will
monetize mobile.
After weeks of the stock dipping and going below
the $20 mark, it has picked up somewhat, buoyed by better mobile
monetization and Zuckerberg assurance that Facebook will explore new
revenue streams. The company’s latest milestone was to breach the 1 billion active user mark.
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