Facebook Suspends Secondary Market Trading, IPO Could Be Around The Corner
Facebook on Wednesday suspended secondary market sharing of the company’s stock in what is very likely a sign that the company plans to go public with an IPO in the near future.
A letter was sent from Facebook’s law firm, Fenwick & West stating that shares of the company would stop trading immediately although a reason for that decision is still not known.
A recent report said Facebook would release its IPO in May and in an interview with Bloomberg Sam Hamadeh, CEO of PrivCo. said:
“Facebook and companies who do this don’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits related to the fact that some people had it before others and were able to trade on it,” and “The best way to protect yourself is to have no one able to trade.”
While suspension of trading on company stock isn’t a surefire IPO possibility it’s definitely a good sign.
Facebook has been trading on secondary markets for years, US Law allows a company to trade with company’s such as Sharespost as long as there is less then 500 investors involved in the process.
Facebook valuation based on Sharespost trading is estimated at $81.2 billion, if that value holds true the company will release one of the top 20 IPO valuations of all time.
Reps from Facebook are not commenting on the suspension of secondary market trading at this time.