Web 2.0 Magazine

There was a time, not so very long ago, when IT directors and chief information officers dismissed the Internet as something of a passing fad. Somehow though, things took off pretty well with the whole web thing didn't they? Mobile telephony has also grown to a level of dominance that we could never have predicted when it first started appearing around 30 years ago. Then came the tablet... just another fad right? Well, the first few were, but then "Magic Steve" produced the tablet we all love and cherish didn't he? (OK yes - I know Android is doing well in this space too, you don't need to write in)... so what's coming next? What Is Our Next Killer Paradigm? Many believe that "sound" will be the next killer element of "social computing" in terms of information share. After all, we share text in various forms, images and video and all the time. Shouldn't this mean tha... (more)

Facebook Tickles Its IPO Again

Facebook Wednesday upped the number of shares that will be sold when it IPOs Friday by almost 25% or 84 million shares to about 421.2 million shares of Class A common stock. The overallotment has also been increased from 50.6 million to 63.2 million. If all 484.4 million shares move, it'd estimated $18.4 billion could change hands, up from $14.7 billion. The added shares will be coming from early investors. The move, which gains Facebook nothing, will also cut CEO Mark Zuckerberg's dominant voting power from 57.3% to around 55.8%. Pricing remains, at least for the moment, at bet... (more)

GM to Pull Facebook Advertising: WSJ

Here we are less than three days before Facebook's historic $100 billion IPO and General Motors or "people familiar with the matter" let slip to the Wall Street Journal that GM's going to stop advertising on the social networking site because the paid ads are ineffective. The big American carmaker still reportedly intends to do marketing through Facebook but that's not going to put any money in Facebook's pocketbook. The paper says GM started having doubts earlier this year and met with Facebook managers, leaving the meetings "unconvinced advertising on the web site made sense." ... (more)

Facebook Ups Its IPO Price

You knew this was gonna happen, right? Facebook has repriced its IPO upwards from $28-$35 a share to $34-$38 a share giving it a valuation of $92 billion-$104 billion, a neighborhood more to its liking than the original $77 billion-$96 billion. The actual price won't be set until Thursday night. Bloomberg claimed the company's IPO roadshow was producing less institutional demand for the stock than expected because of less-than-rosy revenue forecasts last week - though the increase in the price would seem to belie that statement - and the AP and CNBC did a survey that found half t... (more)

Facebook Co-Founder Gives Up US Citizenship

Brazilian-born Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, 30, traded in his American citizenship last September to take up residence in Singapore, a move that will cut his taxes when Facebook IPOs on Friday. He is estimated to own about 4% or 5% of Facebook. The company was valued at $77 billion-$96 billion ahead of the IPO although, according to Bloomberg, its roadshow is producing less institutional demand for the stock than expected since Facebook said last week that advertising revenues weren't keeping pace with user growth and may not reach its rosier forecasts. It's supposed to... (more)