By Telis Demos in New York
Facebook has chosen the Nasdaq to list its shares, under the symbol “FB”, when it launches its initial public offering later this year, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The choice will be a disappointment to the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq’s chief rival and home to social media companies such as LinkedIn and Yelp, but will not ultimately have a major impact on Facebook’s trading, experts say.
Facebook’s planned issuance of $5bn worth of stock would be the largest US IPO ever on Nasdaq, according to figures from S&P Capital IQ.
Nasdaq OMX, Facebook and NYSE Euronext declined to comment.
Facebook is looking to begin its roadshow to investors in May, people familiar with its thinking have said, which could ready it for listing as soon as May or June. It recently halted its share trading in private markets in anticipation of its final push.
While Nasdaq has historically been the listing home of young technology companies, NYSE has made up considerable ground since opening a Silicon Valley office two years ago. NYSE was the top listings market globally in the first quarter.
Last year it split the market for US tech company IPOs with Nasdaq by winning listings for Pandora, the streaming music service; Renren, the Chinese network; and Fusion-io, which provides cloud data storage to Facebook. But Nasdaq ended the year strongly, winning Groupon and Zynga’s listings.
Despite the fierce competition to win listings, which generate steady annual revenues for exchanges, as well as marketing points, stocks in the US can trade on any exchange, or any off-exchange venue such as a “dark pool”.
“The listings choice has no bearing on what price you trade at or what investors you have,” said Tim Quast, managing director at ModernIR.
The exchanges compete primarily through marketing and investor services. NYSE can offer the bell ringing ceremony seen daily on CNBC television. Nasdaq owns space on Times Square billboards.
Bankers typically allow companies to make that decision, with the chief executive or venture capital investors typically having the final word.
“I don’t see [Nasdaq and NYSE] as highly differentiated,” said Bo Brustkern, managing director of Arcstone Partners, an independent research firm. “It was a much bigger deal when Apple and Microsoft chose exchanges.”
The choice will be a disappointment to the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq’s chief rival and home to social media companies such as LinkedIn and Yelp, but will not ultimately have a major impact on Facebook’s trading, experts say.
Facebook’s planned issuance of $5bn worth of stock would be the largest US IPO ever on Nasdaq, according to figures from S&P Capital IQ.
Nasdaq OMX, Facebook and NYSE Euronext declined to comment.
Facebook is looking to begin its roadshow to investors in May, people familiar with its thinking have said, which could ready it for listing as soon as May or June. It recently halted its share trading in private markets in anticipation of its final push.
While Nasdaq has historically been the listing home of young technology companies, NYSE has made up considerable ground since opening a Silicon Valley office two years ago. NYSE was the top listings market globally in the first quarter.
Last year it split the market for US tech company IPOs with Nasdaq by winning listings for Pandora, the streaming music service; Renren, the Chinese network; and Fusion-io, which provides cloud data storage to Facebook. But Nasdaq ended the year strongly, winning Groupon and Zynga’s listings.
Despite the fierce competition to win listings, which generate steady annual revenues for exchanges, as well as marketing points, stocks in the US can trade on any exchange, or any off-exchange venue such as a “dark pool”.
“The listings choice has no bearing on what price you trade at or what investors you have,” said Tim Quast, managing director at ModernIR.
The exchanges compete primarily through marketing and investor services. NYSE can offer the bell ringing ceremony seen daily on CNBC television. Nasdaq owns space on Times Square billboards.
Bankers typically allow companies to make that decision, with the chief executive or venture capital investors typically having the final word.
“I don’t see [Nasdaq and NYSE] as highly differentiated,” said Bo Brustkern, managing director of Arcstone Partners, an independent research firm. “It was a much bigger deal when Apple and Microsoft chose exchanges.”
No comments:
Post a Comment