Public pension funds stung by Facebook's falling stock

[jsr]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0901-facebook-pensions-20120901,0,444913.story

Public pension funds stung by Facebook's falling stock
Public pension funds from around the country took part in Facebook's IPO. The shares fell Friday to a record low of $18.06, or less than half their IPO price.
By Andrew Tangel, Los Angeles Times

NEW YORK — Wall Street investors aren't the only ones feeling the sting of Facebook Inc.'s falling stock: So are some of the country's troubled government pension funds.

Public employee retirement funds from around the country took part in the Menlo Park, Calif., social networking juggernaut's May 18 initial public offering and plowed millions of dollars into Facebook stock before its value plunged.

Facebook shares continued their decline Friday, falling $1.03, or 5.4%, to a record low of $18.06, or less than half their $38 offering price.

Although public pension funds staked only tiny portions of their multibillion-dollar portfolios on Facebook's fortunes, the stock's poor performance has added to the funds' woes. Chronic underfunding and poor returns could lead pension funds to pursue riskier investments such as hedge funds, private equity, commodities and real estate, or even cut benefits for retirees.

[geckosfeet]

1. Why any professional investor, fund manager etc. would invest in this dog

is beyond me. There is no business model there, beyond displaying adds and providing links to other businesses. Grammar school kids can do that on their websites with any number of ad api's.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. My stock broker friend laughed

when I asked her about FB stock. Said she didn't know anyone in her business who was taking this seriously.

That's all I needed to hear.

[bemildred]

3. Suckers. nt

[AnneD]

4. Nothing more...

Than a pump and dump scheme.

[Arctic Dave]

5. I would hope that they are investigating the fund managers for fraud.

Facebook IPO was a joke from the begining.