Facebook: Zuckerberg Won't Sell Shares for a Year

Firm moves to protect share price as it hits new low
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2012 11:22 PM CDT
Updated Sep 5, 2012 6:28 AM CDT
Facebook: Zuckerberg Won't Sell Shares for a Year
A brief spike on the first day of trading may have marked the high point of Mark Zuckerberg's fortune.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Mark Zuckerberg is a much poorer billionaire than he was a few months ago, but he won't be joining the early investors selling off their Facebook shares. Those shares hit a new low of $17.73 yesterday, and the company took steps to assure investors that the slide will not continue, reports the Wall Street Journal. It promised Zuckerberg would not be selling any of his shares for at least a year, and outlined plans to protect the company share price when restricted stock units held by its staff become tradable shares later this year.

Facebook's shares have lost more than 50% of their value since the company's May IPO amid concerns about its moneymaking ability, and analysts say it's time for Zuckerberg to act. "Clearly, he has to do something, having spent the last few years in flip-flops and a hoodie, pontificating about how Facebook is going to change the world," a crisis management expert tells the Los Angeles Times. "I think what people are going to need now is a road map that, among other things, answers the question: What is a reasonable expectation for this company's future?" (More Facebook stories.)

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