On May 18, 2012, Facebook will be a public company trading with a ticker symbol FB. Mark Zuckerberg will be a very rich man. I’m still kicking myself for missing out on My Missed Millionaire Opportunity. Today’s hype for Facebook is at astronomical levels. We haven’t seen this since August 19, 2004 when an upstart search engine company named Google went IPO. Did I participate? Of course! Well, not exactly.
At the time, I loved using Yahoo. But just for fun, I decided to get in on the action and join the bandwagon. I signed up for a bidder ID for Google’s IPO auction. You know that phrase “All I have to show for it is this stupid t-shirt”? For me, replace t-shirt with e-mail.
Please be advised that on August 18, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern DaylightTime) the Securities and Exchange Commission declared the registrationstatement pertaining to shares of Google Class A common stock effective,and Google and the underwriters closed the auction. YOU MAY ACCESS THE CURRENT PROSPECTUS BY CLICKING https://www.ipo.google.com/data/prospectus.html We are sending this notice to everyone who obtained a bidder ID,regardless of whether you have submitted a bid to purchase shares ofGoogle’s Class A common stock in the offering. You may also get asimilar notice from your brokerage firm. If you have submitted a bid, you should access the current prospectusand carefully reconsider your bid(s). Bids may be accepted by theunderwriters at any time after 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) todayby sending you a notice of acceptance. You may withdraw your bid(s) bycontacting your brokerage firm at any time until the notice ofacceptance is sent to you. Please note that submitting a bid does notguarantee that you will be allocated shares in the offering, if it iscompleted. YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THIS MAY BE THE LAST COMMUNICATIONTHAT YOU RECEIVE FROM US BEFORE YOUR BID MAY BE ACCEPTED. Please do not reply to this email. If you have questions regarding thisprocess, please contact your brokerage firm.
Final Thoughts
Almost eight years later, I regret not buying some Google at $85. As of today’s close of $623, that’s a 733% gain. I’m slowly letting go and I suggest you do the same if you’re like me. Fast forward to present day. I looked into getting some FB at the IPO price. However, Fidelity and Ameritrade have account restrictions ($500,000 and $250,000) or trade restrictions (36 trades/year and 30 trades/3 months). Looks like I have to fend for myself in the open market if I want to join the party. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, we all should control ourselves, not get caught up in the hype, and don’t fall victim to IPO regret.
Stay Inspired!
Buck
