facebook ipo

The ongoing saga of Facebook's post-IPO tumble is a classic, Greek-style tragedy of hubris, epic overreach, and equally epic failure, and the media can't get enough of it -- even though large chunks of it are essentially fictional.

Reports began to surface on Monday indicating that Facebook was looking to get over its post-IPO blues by snapping up the Israeli-based company that matches faces in digital photographs to the names of existing friends.

With Facebook shares Tuesday morning trading $7.80 below their offering price, mom-and-pop investors alone are out more than $800 million. And that's the good news. Now here's the bad: Whatever the right number is for how much we've lost so far -- get ready to double it.

First, we learned Facebook's IPO underwriters had cut their estimates for the company in the middle of the IPO roadshow. What we didn't know was why. Now we know. The analysts cut their estimates because a Facebook exec who knew the business was weak told them to.

Facebook's first few days as a public company have been a rocky road. Moving ahead, Mark Zuckerberg would do well to recall the lesson of two other iconoclastic company founders: Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. The tale of Ben & Jerry bears a bracing similarity to his own.

Not much, and the jokes on you if you think otherwise. As the Facebook IPO makes abundantly clear, ordinary investors need to stop counting on Wall Street to look out for them.

As Friday's Facebook IPO -- and its gory aftermath -- proves, even experts can run into trouble investing in social media. But if you're still looking to get in on the Facebook action, and want to mitigate your risks, this ETF might be the way to go.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin gave up his U.S. citizenship and emigrated to Singapore immediately before Facebook's IPO. For him, it's not a bad tax move. But could it be right for you?

Facebook has ended its third trading day and the world is falling apart -- again. The stock closed Tuesday at $31, down 19% from the $38 IPO price, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley is under fire, the SEC is ready to investigate, and analysts are blaming everyone. Oh, and the fundamentals? Those haven't changed a bit.

Forget how Facebook is beating up its IPO investors: The social network is still giving many other publicly traded companies fits. And these five in particular are seeing their business models take a hit at Facebook's expense.