Facebook shares rise after Zuckerberg says no to share sale 

(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) From North America: Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) stock rose Wednesday after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a regulatory filing last night he won't sell shares in the company for at least a year, easing some investor concerns.

Zuckerberg holds about 504 million shares and options in the social networking giant, and would be eligible to start selling them in November.

The company currently has about 692 million shares eligible for sale. Investors had been concerned that if Zuckerberg had sold his shares, prices would go down even more than they already have.

Even up more than 4.4 per cent today, its shares, trading at around 18.5, are well below the company's IPO price of 38.

The filing also said that two of its board members, Marc Andreessen and Donald Graham, have no "present intention" to sell stock beyond what they need to cover taxes.

But even without Zuckerberg's shares, up to 1.2 billion more shares could enter the market over the next several months, including those from employees eligible to sell on October 29.

The IPO of Facebook went down with several glitches, and the company is now the subject of several shareholder lawsuits, along with the invesment banks that led the public offering.

The suits allege that the investment banks cut their financial forecasts for Facebook just before the listing, and selectively told clients.

Investors worry about Facebook's ability to keep growing its revenue.