REPORT: Traders Are Flipping Out Over Facebook SNAFU, And Want $100 Million From The NASDAQ
Glitches, delays, and confusion on Facebook's first day of trading reportedly have traders livid, and they're taking their anger out on the NASDAQ.
Angry traders and investors are bombarding Nasdaq officials with demands that the exchange make good on losses they say were incurred during the messy execution of the Facebook IPO, where Nasdaq systems essentially broke down and failed to execute buy and sell orders for the stock at various times during Friday’s stock sale, according to
people with first-hand knowledge of the matter.
These people say that the demands for money could total $100 million or possibly more, but Nasdaq chief executive officer Bob Greifeld is, at least for now, taking the position that the exchange will not cover the losses.
Our Nicholas Carlson reported on these glitches on Friday:
A theory from a source close to FB's IPO bankers: The volume that caused NASDAQ to delay the IPO for more than a half hour, also prevented Nasdaq from informing big bank trading desks whether or not their trades on Facebook had gone through.
This left trading desks in a position where "you don't know whether you bought it, and you think you did at $42 but you're not sure," says our source.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see if NASDAQ does have to eat losses somehow. We're not sure what the mechanism would be. They have certainly acknowledged issues, and shares in the NASDAQ itself were down 4% on Friday.
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