VOA标准英语2012--Facebook's Stock Debuts on Wall Street

 

Facebook's Stock Debuts¹ on Wall Street

The year's most hotly anticipated public offering kicked off at 11 a.m, Friday in New York, with founder² Mark Zuckerberg ringing the Nasdaq opening bell remotely from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Despite the hype and the celebratory hugs, the stock's performance on day one proved underwhelming. That came as no surprise to investment strategist Michael Gayad.

"We've actually seen a few of that type of behavior in some other tech IPOs this year where the initial excitement was high, there was a lot of buying and then it just gradually fell off," said Gayad.

After opening at $38 a share, Facebook stock closed just 23 cents higher. That's a big wake up call for a company that is now worth more than a $100 billion, said media analyst³ Nick Thomas.

"Everyone loves Facebook because it's free. The big challenge for Facebook is once it has shareholders⁴, it's going to have to try to generate serious revenue," said Thomas.

Among the doubters was automaker General Motors, which pulled its ads from Facebook, saying it didn't think the social network could deliver results.

Some analysts⁵ had been warning that Facebook was overvalued.

Jeff Corbin at KCSA Communications told VOA he had no plans to invest in Facebook.

"How do we put a value on it? Right now, it's all advertising⁶. If the advertising industry determines that Facebook ads don't really help, then we're going, they're going to see a decrease in their revenue," he said.

But Facebook is not without its believers. Jonah Peretti, the founder of Buzzfeed.com, has encouraging words.

"It's a phenomenal company when you look at the level of engagement and there is nothing to compare to it, nothing has ever had that level of engagement before. And so I think they have a very bright future and that people haven't fully⁷ understood the impact they're going to have on the Internet and on business and on media," said Peretti.

Despite a disappointing first day, the world's largest social network - with an estimated 900 million user accounts worldwide - managed to raise more than $18 billion, making it the largest technology IPO in U.S. history.

1 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。