Facebook share price IPO – an annotated graphic

Aside from a salutary lesson in investing in something intangible, in something that doesn’t actually exist – i.e. investing in digital “air” – the continuing slide of Facebook’s share price is also an illuminating glimpse in to the nefarious world of high finance, wherein the efficacy or otherwise of your product or service is almost an irrelevance, its future prosperity and stability inexorably tied to the whims and proclivities of a worldwide network of financially cavalier gamblers.

Ah well, Zuckerberg has had a pretty good ride thus far and still isn’t short of a few quid today, regardless of having had billions wiped of his personal notional dollar value, so them’s the brokes.

Click on the graphic for an expanded  view.

Facebook share price slump

Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic

In the run-up to Facebook’s public offering, all kinds of facts and figures are flying around. This graphic serves to illustrate who owns what when it comes to the social chit-chat behemoth.

As for its anticipated final valuation… $100 billion? Seriously? Far be it from us to be so cynical, but we can’t help feeling that this valuation has been applied by people slathering at the mouth at the prospect of  being made extremely wealthy by Facebook’s flotation. Honestly, it’s hard to escape the notion that people make this stuff up as they go along. What is the point of Facebook? If you can genuinely answer that in a compelling sentence of 100 words or less, I’ll eat my computer.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Who owns Facebook?

Facebook IPO – an annotated graphic

Far be it from us to comment on the true value of Facebook – it being one of those baffling interweb phenomena that doesn’t actually output any kind of tangible product and will almost certainly be considerably less significant in 5-10 years’ time –  but as its much-anticipated IPO draws near, it seemed an opportune moment to reflect on the big numbers attached to a company that has the world’s investors frothing at the mouth for a piece of the action.

Our mild cynicism and detached bemusement aside, a company the size of Facebook apparently having a debt of “Zero” is quietly impressive.

If you’re interested in other Facebook-related news, you might enjoy E&T‘s news story about how Facebook’s new Timeline feature is going to be a big part of your life shortly. Whether you like it or not – ha! Yep, that’s the arrogant “charm” of Facebook in a nutshell right there. Enjoy!

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Facebook IPO fact file