Wall Street Bitch-slaps us (again)

The Rat has an interesting take on the Facebook IPO debacle:

But here’s an interesting angle; I heard a very knowledgeable investor describe how the major financial networks played with Facebook in the lead-up to the IPO release. Financial networks like CNBC were slamming Facebook even before the release. It’s like they just couldn’t stand it and here’s why:

The elites that puppet the country have no control over the most popular organizing tool in the world.

Apparently its common practice for companies to convey verbal pricing information to investors.

“Rather, in conjunction with industry convention (see below*), these estimates are conveyed verbally to institutional investors who are considering investing in the IPO.

(This is an absurd and unfair practice. The estimates themselves are material information–the consensus of smart, well-trained analysts who have worked with the company’s management to develop realistic forecasts. Most investors don’t even know that these estimates exist, let alone that they’re whispered verbally to only a handful of big investors. All potential investors should have easy access to these estimates, as well as to any logic underlying them. The SEC needs to change the rules here.)”

Oh but it gets better…

“Soon after Facebook amended its prospectus, all three analysts at the company’s lead underwriters—Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs—cut their estimates for Facebook’s Q2 and the full year.

These estimate cuts were conveyed verbally to sophisticated institutional investors.

And, not surprisingly, these investors viewed the estimate cuts as a startling and negative development.

One important question, of course, was why all three underwriter analysts cut their estimates.

Had they all read the new sentence in the prospectus above and realized that the second quarter was weak? Or had they been tipped off?

…One of the underwriter’s analysts has said he was told by a Facebook financial executive to cut his estimates.”

This mess will be interesting to watch as it plays out. At this point I will go as far as agreeing with Business Insider:

“In one of the biggest IPOs in history, in which a huge amount of stock was sold to small investors, privileged Wall Street insiders once again got top-notch information…and individuals got the shaft.”

Let’s close with a satirical take on the mess, courtesy of the Hitler Rants Parodies!

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