Investors queue up to hear from Zuckerberg ahead of Facebook IPO
FACEBOOK kicked off a road-show to promote its $10bn (£6.17bn) float yesterday.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg fielded questions about the social network’s slowing revenue growth and defended its $1bn purchase of Instagram, telling attendees he would do the deal again if he had to.
Hundreds of investors had formed a line outside New York’s Sheraton Hotel about an hour before the roadshow started yesterday morning, as a nearby media throng awaited the arrival of Facebook executives and elicited inquiries from curious passers-by.
“This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” said another investor who was at the event.
Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes took the stage to begin the formal presentation as the audience of investors lunched on Cobb salad, ice tea and cookies, attendees said.
The world’s largest social network aims to raise about $10.6bn, dwarfing the coming-out parties of tech companies like Google and granting it a market value close to Amazon.
The eight-year-old social network that began as Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room project indicated an IPO range of $28 to $35 a share on Thursday, which would value the company at $77bn to $96bn.
Zuckerberg was accompanied by finance chief David Ebersman, who was wearing a suit and tie, and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Investors managed to ask five questions during the event yesterday, including a query about Facebook’s potential plans to enter China, the world’s largest Internet market by users.
Zuckerberg noted that Facebook was blocked in China – a situation experienced by several popular US websites such as YouTube and Twitter. Sandberg added that the company would be willing to sit down with Chinese government officials and discuss partnerships in the country.