Facebook’s Notice To Shareholders On Stock Split And Transfer Fees

techcrunch.com

12 points·nphase··5 comments

I wonder what the purpose of this move is? I know very little about this type of thing, but it would not surprise me if this meant any IPO is a long way off. It seems like they wouldn't bother making this rule otherwise.

On the other hand, perhaps it is close and they want to save their employees the grief of selling now at a much lower price than they anticipate shortly in the future?

Remember kids, when interviewing at private companies which offer stock rewards, always get firm answers about percentage owned and dilution. Getting 1,000,000 Facebook shares might sound good on an offer letter but without knowing the percentage that could be worth 6$.

Edited to remove comment about par value.

I don't think that word means what you think it means

"Many common stocks issued today do not have par values; those that do (usually only in jurisdictions where par values are required by law) have extremely low par values (often the smallest unit of currency in circulation), for example a penny par value on a stock issued at USD$25/share."

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Par_value

Of course you are right, but the point remains, it is important to understand the percentage of equity that you own/will own and how that will change with future dilution.

par value != market price

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