This morning's announcement of the 25% rise in the IPO price of Twitter raised a few eyebrows across Wall and Main Street. Most will argue that investors have all learned many lessons in the 18 months since Facebook IPO'd to a clarion call for retail money large and small from every form of media that exists... The following headlines from the pre-IPO suggest, unfortunately, that we learned absolutely nothing...
In the week leading up to the Facebook IPO:
- Facebook to Set IPO Price Range High $20s to Mid $30s: WSJ
- Facebook has set a price range of $28 to $35 for IPO: AP
- Facebook Close to Pricing IPO at $38/Shr, WSJ Says
- Facebook Indicated at $44-$45 on Nasdaq IPO Cross: CNBC
and then this week - ahead of the Twitter IPO:
- *GORMAN EXPECTS 'CLEAN' OPENING TRADE ON TWITTER IPO
- *TWITTER SEES IPO PRICE $23-$25, HAD SEEN $17-$20
- *TWITTER IPO SAID TO BE OVERSUBSCRIBED SEVERAL TIMES AT $25/SHR
- *TWITTER SAID LIKELY TO PRICE IPO ABOVE INCREASED OFFERING RANGE
- *TWITTER RATED NEW BUY AT TOPEKA CAPITAL, PT $54
and so where did Facebook end up before embarking on its explosive price trajectory...?
[7]
Sure enough, the low end of the initial pre-IPO range...
But, of course, it's different this time...