Letters: Owning a piece of Facebook

Re “IPO falls short of the hype,” May 19

As Facebook has so glaringly and extravagantly demonstrated, the IPO, or initial public offering, is no such thing. We might just as well call it an initial privileged offering, an IEO (initial elite offering) or an ICO (initial corporate offering). But we of the “public” had nothing resembling a chance.

As the women of old who had to put up a hefty dowry to snag a wealthy spouse, Facebook could declare an initial dowry offering, or an “I DO!,” for it’s uber-wealthy participants.

Either change the name or change the game.

Hilary Hartman Kip

Van Nuys

The purpose of an IPO is to raise money for the company and get liquidity for initial investors. If the stock closes near the original price, then that’s the perfect IPO.

The only people who should be disappointed are the exclusive few who got the opportunity to buy shares at the IPO price. They didn’t get the usual opening-day “pop.”

Mark Harmsworth

Laguna Niguel

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