On what date did Facebook go public?

Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, when its shares began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol FB. The event was one of the most closely watched technology IPOs in history.

Facebook filed for an initial public offering on February 1, 2012. Underwriters priced the shares at $38 each, valuing the company at roughly $104 billion. The offering raised about $16 billion, making it one of the largest U.S. IPOs at the time and giving the young social-networking company a massive public-market valuation.

Trading was scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, but Nasdaq technical problems delayed the opening until 11:30 a.m. Facebook’s stock closed its first day at $38.23, only slightly above the offering price. In the following weeks, the share price fell sharply, creating controversy among investors and prompting regulatory scrutiny.

The date is sometimes confused with May 17, when Facebook priced the offering and some reports described the IPO as occurring. For a quiz asking when Facebook went public or began trading, May 18, 2012, is the standard answer.