Gamblers betting on firm’s IPO
The odds are pointing to Facebook Inc. pricing its IPO at between $35 and $44.99 a share in the $5-billion initial public offering it filed Wednesday, according to the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power PLC.
Facebook will price the new shares within that range at odds of 10 to 11, according to an e-mailed statement from Paddy Power. The likelihood of the social-networking website selling shares as low as $25 stands at 7-to-2, and at 9-to-2 for prices of more than $65, the gambling company site said.
“With Facebook now a part of most of our day-to-day lives, the IPO was always going to get people talking,” said Feilim Mac An Iomaire, a spokesman for Dublin-based Paddy Power.
While the odds suggest the price will fall between $35 and $44.99, “given Facebook’s history of exceeding expectations, I don’t think we can rule anything out,” he said. Paddy Power customers are also betting on who will ring the opening bell for Facebook in its debut. While chief executive Mark Zuckerberg leads with odds of 1 to 100, betters are also wagering on Facebook’s former president Sean Parker (25 to 1), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (50 to 1) and U2’s lead singer, Bono, (100 to 1) as candidates. Bono is a co-founder and managing director of Elevation Partners LP, an investor in Facebook. Microsoft put $240 million into Facebook in 2007.