May 18, 2012 · 9:00 pm
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2 Huge Stories on the Same Day, affecting the Bay Area

Facebook goes public
Zuckerberg, employees celebrate on Menlo Park campus
by Sandy Brundage
Almanac Staff

I think it is very exciting that this company went public and I wish them the best.. -Michael Stogner

Instead of chatting on Facebook, a lot of people are talking about Facebook today. The social networking giant debuted itspublic stock offering at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time today, with initial shares trading at $42.05 on NASDAQ, up from its IPO price of $38.
Track the current trading on this CNNMoney site.

The stock exchange recorded the bell-ringing ceremony held by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s Menlo Park campus (click here to watch the action).

Menlo Park, as the home of Facebook’s new headquarters on 1 Hacker Way, will see its name mentioned in newspapers around the world as one of the biggest global events ever to happen in a town that prides itself on “village character” unfolds. According to CNN, going public stands to raise at least $16 billion for Facebook, making it the largest tech IPO and third largest IPO in the United States.

Some of that wealth will flow back into Menlo Park; the city recently approved an agreement related to Facebook’s planned campus expansion that will generate $8.5 million total in graduated payments during the next 10 years, and followed by $5 million during the subsequent four years, as well as funding for community and infrastructure improvements.

Facebook employees celebrated in their traditional manner by holding an all-night Hackathon that started on Thursday.
HP may cut up to 35,000 jobs, reports say

Palo Alto tech giant Hewlett-Packard Company may lay off as many as 35,000 workers – nearly 10 percent of its 350,000-person workforce, according to recent reports.

The company has declined to comment, but news organizations including Bloomberg and AllThingsD, citing unnamed sources, stated the company plans to lay off between 25,000 and 35,000 workers.

There’s no word yet on how many HP employees in Palo Alto would be affected by the layoffs, which could be announced as early as next week, according to the reports.

The layoffs would come at the end of a tumultuous period for the personal computer giant, including three different CEOs in 3 years and falling sales figures.

Its first-quarter earnings in 2012 decreased by 44 percent compared to 2011’s first quarter. During the same period, its net income dropped to 73 cents per share from $1.17, or $1.47 billion from $2.6 billion.

— Eric Van Susteren

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One response to “2 Huge Stories on the Same Day, affecting the Bay Area”

  1. Michael G Stogner
    May 18, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    These two huge stories involve world known companies, I find it ironic that we have both stories on the same day impacting the bay area. One company’s explosive growth and value excitement because of IPO, and another company just a couple miles south downsizing up to 35,000 jobs lost.

    Reply

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