Facebook Inc. (FB) IPO: NASDAQ $62M Offer is Take It or Leave It

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) probably should have known way back on the day of its IPO that its stock was not going to be received well. When NASDAQ has a “glitch” devoted solely to that stock, that might have been the omen. and while underwriters lost a bunch of money in the hours and days following the IPO, NASDAQ has gotten a lot of heat for how it handled – or mishandled – the trading of Facebook stock that first day, and it has been offering to settle the issue.

But for a couple of the firms who claim harm by the “glitch,” it doesn’t go far enough. But NASDAQ says it won’t compromise any more – it’s take it or leave it for anyone who wants to claim that the 30-minute delay in trading cost them more than the $62 million the exchange is offering for the Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) IPO. A couple of firms, Knight Capital and Citadel Securities, have both expressed support for the settlement offer, which is currently before the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval – which is expected to reach its decision sometime in the fourth quarter of 2012.

However, UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) have voiced strident objections to the Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) IPO deal, saying it does not go far enough to cover the losses the “glitch” caused, besides the 30-minute delay in trading the first day Facebook shares were available. But with NASDAQ already raising its settlement amount from an initial $40 million to the current $62 million, it will not budge any more, and is willing to risk legal action by any party, citing “robust legal and factual defenses” to defend its offer, said NASDAQ chief financial officer Lee Shavel. “We continue to believe … that this addresses the issues that we identified in a very fair, reasonable, and objective manner,” he said.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), after an immediate gain at launch of trading, fell sharply the first day and following days, and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) were claiming that their losses were mainly due to the “glitch” that delayed trading for 30 minutes and resulted in NASDAQ resorting to a secondary trading system that caused delays in trades and confirmations, which made investors’ losses deeper than they should have been, it is argued.