Facebook Inc (FB) Dips Again As Lockup Lifts On Employee Shares

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Another lockup period on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock has expired today. Employees of Facebook are now eligible to sell their shares. This time 234 million shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) have been freed from the lockup restrictions. The change dipped Facebook by as much as 5 percent, compared to the last closing price of Friday. The lockup restrictions were set to lift on Monday, the selling was delayed for two days due to hurricane Sandy. Another ban on selling lifts on November 14th of this year.

Facebook Inc (FB) Dips Again As Lockup Lifts On Employee Shares

The major shareholders among the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) employees are COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman. Sandberg’s share amounts to $396 million (at $22/share after taxes), while Ebersman owns $48.4 million.

The previous lockup expirations did not have any favorable effect on the IPO-haunted share price of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).  When the last lockup lifted in August, 271 million shares opened for selling on the Nasdaq exchange. The selling frenzy that ensued dipped the stock to $19.69. People and companies who have decided to stick to their shares in the struggling social network are, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Andreessen Horowitz, and Kleiner Perkins. On the other hand, when the last restrictions on selling lifted, Peter Thiel, Dustin Moskovitz, Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, and Meritech Capital Partners, sold their stakes in the company.

One of the few tailwinds for the company have been a better than expected quarterly earnings. The social network reported a surging mobile advertising revenue for the third quarter, which is a positive sign, as Facebook’s competitor, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), has so far failed in mastering the mobile arena, a fact that was clearly evident in Google’s weak third quarter earnings.  The total revenue grew by 32 percent. In response to the FB’s earnings call, shares swung up by a cool 22 percent and closed at $23.23.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock has still three more lockups to get past. The next one is scheduled for Nov 14, which will bring 777 million shares for sale on the market. On December 14th, an additional 156 million shares will be opened for trading, and finally on May 18th of next year, the lockup lifts on 47 million shares.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is currently trading at $21.16.

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