SOCIAL SLUMP

Facebook Debut Falls Flat

Stock price stays even on first day.

Despite starting trading at 11 percent above the $38 offering price, the much-anticipated Facebook stock quickly fell back from its peak $45 to close at $38.23. Analysts had expected the stock to rise between 10 and 50 percent. The slump dragged down other Internet and social-media companies planning on riding Facebook’s wave. The company’s slow debut probably won’t affect business, and some attribute the enormous $104 billion IPO valuation as an overreach. Among the winners at Facebook as the company goes public are Bono and many newly minted millionaire stockholders. It’s been estimated that as a result of the IPO, $2 billion in income-tax revenue will help lower California’s budget deficit.