Facebook Euphoria Comes Amid Bank Scandals, Europe Fears On Wall Street

Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, applauds at the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, Friday, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla)

The social networking site completed its eight-year journey from a Harvard dorm room to Wall Street this morning, as founder Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the NASDAQ stock exchange via satellite from Facebook offices in Menlo Park California.

The public offering is expected to make Zuckerberg richer than the founders of Google, but analysts remain sharply divided over the future of the company. And Friday’s offering comes as the market has been falling sharply, amid fears over the health of U.S. banks after multi-billion dollar losses at JP Morgan Chase, and fears over the stability of the European monetary union.

Still, among those likely to benefit from today’s Facebook sale: The rocker Bono, who’s investment is expected to yield him over a billion dollars in profit, and the state of California, which stands to collect as much as two and a half billion dollars in taxes.

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Guest:

• Paul Sloan, executive editor for the technology news site CNET