ItwouldbealltooeasytosaythatFacebook’smarketmeltdowniscomingtoanend.Afterall,MarkZuckerberg’ssocial networkburnedasmuchas$50billionofshareholders’wealthinjustacouplemonths.Toputthatincontext,sinceitsdebut(初次登台)onNASDAQinMay,FacebookhaslostvaluenearlyequaltoYahoo,AOL,Zynga,Yelp,Pandora,OpenTable, Groupon,LinkedIn,andAngie'sListcombined,plusthatofthebulkofthepubliclytradednewspaperindustry: Asshockingasthisutterfailuremaybetothenearly1billionfaithfulFacebookusersaroundtheworld,it’snosurpriseto anyonewhoreadtheinitialpublicoffering(IPO)prospectus(首次公开募股说明书).Worsestill,allthecrisesthatemerged whenthecompanydebuted-overpricedshares,poorcorporategovernance,hugechallengestothecorebusiness,anda damagedbrand-remaintoday.FacebooklookslikeaprimeexampleofwhatWallStreetcallsafallingknife-thatis,onethat cancostinvestorstheirfingersiftheytrytocatchit. Startwiththevaluation.TojustifyastockpriceclosetothelowerendoftheprojectedrangeintheIPO,say$28ashare,Facebook’sfuturegrowthwouldhaveneededtomatchthatofGooglesevenyearsearlier.Thatwouldhaverequired increasingrevenuebysome80percentannuallyandmaintaininghighprofitmarginsallthewhile. That’snothappening.Inthefirsthalfof2012,Facebookreportedrevenueof$2.24billion,up38percentfromthesame periodin2011.Atthesametime,thecompany’scostssurgedto$2.6billioninthesix-monthperiod. Thisso-soperformancereflectstheAchilles’heelofFacebook’sbusinessmodel,whichthecompanyclearlystatedina listofriskfactorsassociatedwithitsIPO:ithasn’tyetfiguredouthowtoadvertiseeffectivelyonmobiledevices,Thenumber ofFacebookusersaccessingthesiteontheirphonessurgedby67percentto543millioninthelastquarter,ormorethan halfitscustomerbase. Numbersareonlypartoftheproblem.ThemountingpileoffailurecreatesanegativefeedbackloopthatthreatensFacebook’sfutureinotherways.Indeed,themoreFacebook’sdisappointmentinthemarketiscatalogued,theworseFacebook’s imagebecomes.Notonlydoesthatthreatentoruboffonusers,it’sbadforrecruitmentandretentionoftalentedhackers,whoarethelifebloodofZuckerberg’screation. YetthebrilliantCEOcanignorethesadnessandcomplaintsofhisshareholdersthankstothesuper-votingstockhe holds.Thisarrangementalsowasfullydisclosedatthetimeoftheoffering.It’sapitysofewinvestorsapparentlybotheredto dotheirhomework. WhatcanbeinferredaboutFacebookfromthefirstparagraph《》()
A.Its market meltdown has been easily halted. B.It has increased trade with the newspaper industry. C.It has encountered utter failure since its stock debut. D.Its shareholders have invested$50 billion in a social network.正确答案C
