February 3, 2014

Facebook IPO Firms Paid

By John D'Antona Jr.

Nasdaq made its traders whole after the August Facebook IPO debacle.

The exchange operator told traders back in December that it will compensate firms at the end of that year for qualifying claims related to the social media giant's botched May 2012 initial public offering, according to a Reuters report.

Nasdaq has previously said it would pay up to $41.6 million in claims to market participants that lost money when a glitch in Nasdaq's trading system during the IPO botched order confirmations left many traders wondering if their orders were executed or not. Some traders were unclear about the status of orders for several hours while the exchange tried to find out what was going on. Many traders contended the exchange kept mum about the trading glitch and was unresponsive to requests for information.

While the operator agreed to pay market makers nearly $42 million in compensation for the trading snafu, market makers that included Citi and UBS said they'd lost upward of a half billion dollars.

Reuters reported that firms that qualified for compensation had until Dec. 23 to agree not to sue Nasdaq over the IPO in order to be eligible for a one-time voluntary payout.

Nasdaq was fined $10 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the largest fine ever for an exchange, as a result of the botched IPO and its handling of it.

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