FACEBOOK SETS RECORD FOR RISE TO $250 BILLION
It seems like just yesterday that Facebook Inc. Went public. Now its market value has topped $250 billion. The social network company’s 2.4 percent climb to a record close on Monday, just over three years after its IPO, made it the first company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to breach that market cap so quickly. The previous record holder was Google Inc., which took about eight years. Facebook’s rapid ascent may indicate investor confidence that the company will continue to increase mobile-advertising sales on its application and others. To some degree, the gain also reflects froth in tech stocks; the Nasdaq Internet Index has almost doubled since Facebook went public. Its shares trade at 87 times earnings, almost five times the average in the S&P 500. Companies in the Nasdaq Internet Index trade at a price-earnings ratio of 27. “When you see stocks with these high multiples, it shows you the market’s comfort in the longer-term growth story,” said Paul
