Facebook Inc. (FB) Secures an IPO Court Win

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) and NASDAQ have been uneasy allies in a courtroom in New York, as the two entities have been working through more than a dozen lawsuits that devolved from the botched IPO last May. The same federal judge is handling all of the cases, and he has made a couple of initial rulings to start the process of working through the maze of lawsuits.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) was able to win a victory against a group of shareholders, who claimed that Facebook executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others failed to disclose some key information about the company at the time of the IPO, which affected these investors’ positions. The claim was that these executives did not inform everyone about the company’s risks in mobile advertising. However, Judge Robert Sweet dismissed the case by the investors, saying that the three investors bought their shares on the day of the IPO, which was sufficiently after Facebook had submitted several amendments to its IPO filing, and the company’s uncertainty about mobile monetization was mentioned in those amendments.

The investors – listed as William Cole, Hal Hubuschman and Linda Levy – also claimed that media reports released suggested that Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) had given certain information to analysts and a hand-picked group of investors. But Judge Sweet rejected that notion as well, saying that while the information might have been pertinent to the IPO, the plaintiffs could not prove that the information  “significantly altered the total mix of information in the marketplace.”

What do you think? Should Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) avoid accountability for what happened with the IPO, or how do you think Facebook was involved in its own problems with its offering? We’d like your thoughts in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

Please see these related FB articles:

Facebook Among Those Winning the Future

Will Atlas Be Shrugged in Advertising?

Is Facebook Losing Its Cool?