Facebook share price slumps below $20

Published Aug 3 2012, 11:24 BST  |  By Andrew Laughlin

Shares in Facebook fell below $20 for the first time yesterday (August 2), after the social network was hit by increasing doubts over its future growth prospects.

The stock hit an all-time low of $19.82 (approximately £12.73) in trading yesterday, down 4.6% on the previous day and nearly half the opening value of $38 when Facebook basked in the largest initial public offering in Silicon Valley history.

The Facebook share price is now at around $20.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Victor Anthony told Reuters that the sentiment around Facebook shares is "so negative".

"I think this thing may continue to tick down until you see some sort of meaningful catalyst which unfortunately may not show until third-quarter earnings," he added.

Facebook, the first American company ever to float with market valuation of more than $100 billion, has endured a rocky debut as a public corporation.

Alongside being sued over the botched IPO, the company has recently been rocked by a series of departures of its senior executives, including director of platform partnerships Ethan Beard and the director of strategic partnership marketing Katie Mitic.

In June, the company was also hit by the departure of its chief technology officer Bret Taylor, representing somewhat of a mass exodus of senior executives since the firm went public.

There have been concerns that Facebook is actually slowing down its revenue growth rather than gathering pace. A recent results statement indicated that earnings were up 32% in the second quarter, but that was compared to 100% growth in the same period last year.

Facebook has also admitted that up to 83 million profiles on the world's largest social network could be fake.

A company filing indicated that 8.7% of the firm's 955m users may not be legitimate, which could have implications for security on the network, but also confidence from advertisers - who provide the majority of Facebook's income.