19/05/2012 | Printed Edition
After all the hype, the historic initial public offering of Facebook Inc fizzled yesterday, as the social networking company’s sky-high valuation combined with trading glitches left the stock languishing near its offering price at the market close. After an anxiety-filled half-hour delay, its stock began trading at US$42.05, but soon dipped to US$38.01. By noon, it was up again at US$40.40, a 6 percent increase. It fluttered throughout the afternoon, but never hit the double-digit jump that many Facebook-watchers had expected.