Internet & Media

Facebook shares: Low and headed lower?

If Morgan Stanley hadn't propped up Facebook's stock on Friday, it would have easily closed below its $38 IPO price.

If it couldn't get more momentum on the day it launched, what is it going to do now that the bloom is so suddenly off the rose?

The market is clearly not buying the $100 billion valuation Mr. Zuckerberg and company tried to pawn off on the public. At midday Monday it is already down 11 percent to $34. So how low? $19? $20?

Expect Morgan Stanley to do more propping in the week ahead.

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YouTube users uploading 72 hours of video each minute

YouTube might not be getting all of the attention Facebook gets nowadays, but that doesn't mean it isn't growing.

The online video site announced its seventh birthday in a blog post yesterday, and to help celebrate the milestone, it announced that users now upload 72 hours of video to its service each minute. To put that into perspective, just one year ago, YouTube users were uploading 48 hours to the site every minute.

Google-owned YouTube's latest announcement comes just months after it said back in January that 4 billion videos are viewed on the site each day. more

Google to close Motorola Mobility deal by Wednesday

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility will finally close by Wednesday.

Motorola Mobility announced in a Form-8K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission that now that the Bureau of the Ministry of the Commerce of China has cleared Google's acquisition, the companies will finalize the transaction "within two business days."

China announced on Saturday that it had approved the acquisition, making it the last major regulator to give the deal the green light. Both the U.S. Justice Department and European Union regulators approved the acquisition in February.

Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility in August for $12.5 billion, more

Another day, another board ex-Yahoo CEO Thompson leaves

Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has left another board of directors seat.

Splunk, a provider of real-time operational intelligence software, announced today that Thompson has resigned from his post as director on the company's board. Splunk chairman and CEO Godfrey Sullivan thanked Thompson for his "contributions to the company."

Thompson's Splunk resignation, which was effective May 18, came the same day F5 Networks announced that Thompson had also left its board.

Although neither company said why Thompson was leaving, it likely was due to the recent revelation that Thompson's resume incorrectly indicated that he had earned computer more

Facebook stock opens with a thud; down to $33

So, it looks like investors are not too happy with Facebook this morning.

The company's shares have plummeted in early trading, hitting a low of $33. As of this writing, the company's shares have climbed to $33.16, representing a 13 percent decline compared to its opening price of $38.23. The poor performance puts Facebook much lower than its $38 initial offering price. The humongous social network made its attention-grabbing stock market debut Friday.

The writing appeared to be on the wall this morning when Facebook started trading below $38 in pre-market trading. Ahead of that, Facebook's shares were hovering around $36 in pre-market.more

Facebook shares drop below IPO price in pre-market

Facebook's shares are trading lower on their second day on Nasdaq.

In pre-market trading this morning, the company's shares dropped 4.37 percent to $36.56, leaving them below their initial $38 offering price and their first-day close of $38.23.

Facebook's shares rose to a high of $45 on Monday before flirting with falling below their initial price. It was believed that the stock was buoyed by underwriters to ensure it didn't slip below $38.

Aside from Facebook finally going public, the big story on Friday was Nasdaq delaying its opening due to a technical glitch. more

Zuckerberg's married status gets 1M likes

Weddings are always a big deal, but some transcend the usual hoopla and well-wishing. Will and Kate. Kim and Kris. Luke and Laura.

To that list, you can now add Mark and Priscilla. While there was no run-up to the nuptials of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, the weekend wedding of Facebook's co-founder has certainly captured the world's attention.

Since word got out late Saturday about the secret ceremony earlier in the day, more than 1 million Facebook subscribers have clicked the Like button for Zuckerberg's change of status to "married." In a less precise sampling, of more

EU competition chief: We'll settle with Google over antitrust

The European Union's competition commissioner says he's open to settling his antitrust investigation into Google's search practices.

Joaquin Almunia held a news briefing today, saying that his office would be willing to come to a "quick resolution on the competition issues" that Google is facing, so competition can be restored across the continent.

"Google has repeatedly expressed to me its willingness to discuss any concerns that the Commission might have without having to engage in adversarial proceedings," Almunia said. "This is why today I'm giving Google an opportunity to offer remedies to address concerns that we more

Chrome now world's top browser, but beware the math

There's no debating Google Chrome continues to gain momentum and put pressure on Internet Explorer. But according to one browser-tracking firm, it's now more popular than Microsoft's alternative.

Analytics site StatCounter has revealed that for the first time, Google Chrome overtook Internet Explorer last week to become the world's most popular browser. According to the data the company compiled, during the week of May 14 to May 20, Chrome secured 32.76 percent market share, compared to Microsoft's 31.94 percent.

At the start of this week, however, Chrome has come back down to 31.more

Hulu unveils lineup of original, exclusive shows

Hulu hopes summer reruns will have viewers tuning in to its Web site for original shows.

The online video site today unveiled a lineup of 10 shows -- three original and seven exclusive to the site -- that begin airing in June.

It's among most aggressive announcement of unique content yet for Hulu, which is hoping the new shows will give viewers extra reason to view online content through Hulu. The site has been focusing more on original content even as its slate of available television shows and movies either shrink or move behind its Hulu Plus pay wall. more