On what date did Facebook's initial public offering take place?

Facebook’s initial public offering took place on May 18, 2012.

The company priced its shares at $38 each and listed them on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FB. The offering raised about $16 billion and gave Facebook a peak valuation of more than $100 billion, making it one of the largest technology IPOs at the time.

Trading was scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, but Nasdaq technical problems delayed the opening until 11:30 a.m. Despite the attention surrounding the event, the stock closed its first day at only $38.23 after a turbulent session.

A common mix-up is confusing the offering date with the pricing announcement on May 17 or with later trading dates. Facebook later changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms in 2021, but the 2012 IPO remains associated with Facebook’s original identity and ticker.