On the evening of May 18, Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, 10 years ago, which is still the largest technology IPO in history. Due to strong demand, Facebook raised $16 billion in its IPO after pricing its stock at the upper limit of the range, with a market value of $104 billion.
After the closing price on its first trading day was slightly higher than the IPO price of $38, many investors seeking to make fast money "abandoned their ships", leading to a sharp decline in its share price. In the next few months, Facebook's market value fell by nearly 50%, and the company's share price did not return to IPO level until August 2013. Since then, the social media giant has gone uphill.
Despite some major setbacks - Facebook has twice recorded the largest decline in one-day market value - and a bad start to 2022, the company's share price is still 433% higher than the IPO price, which means that the initial investment of long-term investors who bought Facebook at the IPO has more than quintupled, with an average annual return of 18.9%.