Facebook’s Zuckerberg changes status, weds Chan

Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan

This photo provided by Facebook shows Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday, May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" on Saturday. The ceremony took place in Zuckerberg's backyard before fewer than 100 guests, who all thought they were there to celebrate Chan's graduation. — Photo by AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg capped the week of a lifetime, changing his own status to married Saturday after wedding Priscilla Chan just a day after his company went public, he announced.

Zuckerberg posted a wedding picture with his bride, where else but on his Facebook page.

“Mark added a life event to May 19, 2012 on his timeline: Married Priscilla Chan,” was the only description of the shot of the bride in white and the groom, famous for his attachment to casual clothes, all smiles in a dark suit and tie on his other big day.

Facebook stumbled on its first trading day Friday as shares ended barely above the starting price after a glitch-plagued market debut on the Nasdaq that failed to live up to its enormous hype.

The stock, priced at $38 on Thursday in the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) for a technology firm, eked out a gain of just 0.61 per cent to end at $38.23, amid record volume of more than 575 million shares traded.

Shares in the social network titan saw roller-coaster action in what was one of most keenly awaited stock issues in history. The day began with a 30-minute delay in trade, an incident which regulators are still reviewing.

Zuckerberg, 28, wearing his trademark hooded sweatshirt, remotely rang the bell to open the Nasdaq, marking the start of trade.

He told the crowd at the company’s new campus in Menlo Park, California, that going public is a “milestone” but added: “Our mission isn't to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.” The IPO gave Facebook a dizzying value of $104 billion at its market debut.

It raised more than $16 billion, making it the richest after that of financial giant Visa in 2008, according to Renaissance Capital. The addition of a possible stock “over-allotment” could boost the total to $18.4 billion.

With its current market value, Facebook is now among the most valuable US companies, ahead of sector giants Amazon ($96 billion) and Cisco ($89 billion), and more than twice the value of Ford Motor Co. ($38 billion).

But it remains behind Google ($196 billion) and Apple ($496 billion).

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