What You Need to Know About Facebook Delaying Its IPO

Written by Danny Guttridge



The buzz around Facebook's IPO has been going on for months, and rumors of it happening for years prior. The Internet giant is planning for one of the largest IPOs in tech history, but the actual event might be postponed due to a series of acquisitions and other business, according to CNBC. The company had been planning for the launch to be in early May, but now it could be as late as June.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his management team have been busy with acquisitions like Instagram for $1 billion, and less focused on preparing for the share sale. While some investors and traders are frustrated with the possible delay, Zuckerberg's focus on actual business should possibly be considered a positive thing for the health of the company.

The acquisitions and the purchase of a patent portfolio from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) for $550 million also required a refilling of some of the company's financial documents with the SEC, which could take an additional amount of time.

Interestingly, Groupon, Inc. (Nasdaq:GRPN) experienced some issues prior to their IPO, and some investors are paralleling the two companies. This is worrisome because Groupon's value drastically declined a short time after its IPO and continues to do so.

Business Section: Investing Ideas
The delay in Facebook's IPO could act as either a positive event creating more buzz, or it could be negative and have the same affect that Groupon did. Use Kapitall tools to analyze Groupon and some of Facebook's competitors. Do you think the IPO will still go well? (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in market cap for GRPN, GOOG, YHOO, and AOL:



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Written by Danny Guttridge, who does not own shares of any companies mentioned above.