Zuckerberg A No-Show At Facebook's Boston IPO Roadshow

When you're trying to justify an initial public offering somewhere in the range of 11 billion dollars, it's a good idea to keep your calendar in order. Nevertheless, Reuters reports that Facebook's 27-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to attend the second stop of the company's IPO roadshow in Boston, leaving over 200 observers – including potential investors – feeling like fans at a cancelled rock concert. Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg fielded questions, but offered no explanation for her boss's absence.

Facebook's IPO roadshow began in New York City yesterday, where a hoodied Zuckerberg made his case for the company's massive IPO. A 30-minute IPO video made the rounds in New York, but was also skipped in Massachusetts, again without explanation. Zuckerberg's lackadaisical attitude towards his company's initial public offering is a potential sore spot for investors, but then he doesn't have too much to worry about – even after selling 30.2 million of his personal shares, Zuckerberg will still control 57.3% of the Facebook's voting shares.

Financial channels are abuzz with rumors of dates for the IPO, with the most optimistic being this Friday, May 11th.  Shares are expected to be priced between $28 and $35 initially, though the roadshow may (or may not) increase the initial asking price. There's no date set in stone yet, but it's certainly coming sooner rather than later. The roadshow will make stops in Palo Alto, Chicago, Denver and New York (again) before concluding on May 17th.

[via ZDNet]