The IPO of Facebook was marked by the very poor performance of the title, which had lost 30% of its value in a few days. But this was not the only problem. The day of arrival in style social network, the Nasdaq (the index of new technologies) had suffered severe computer problems. Some transactions had been canceled, due to a delay of two milliseconds in a calculation.
Nasdaq will not compensate investors who lost money simply by leveraging Facebook, because this is the game of the Exchange. But it would compensate the players "who have been disadvantaged by the technical problems encountered during the IPO of Facebook May 18," he says in a statement. "These technical problems have been solved," says the New York body. "The Board of Directors approved a voluntary fund for compensation of about $ 40 million," the statement said. These funds would be spread over a period of about six months, in cash and by credit on future operations.
This fund may not be enough to calm things down, some victims who brought the case to court. The broker Knight Capital has requested, by itself, 35 million dollars in damages and said he was "disappointed that the compensation provided by the Nasdaq does not even approach the losses suffered". The total number of complaints against the Nasdaq would amount to $ 100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The main competitor to Nasdaq, NYSE Euronext, immediately objected to such maneuvers. "Allowing the Nasdaq price fixing [of its transactions] and to use other tactics to deal with fair compensation for victims of the problems associated with the introduction of Facebook stock market would be totally contrary to the principle of fair competition and unnecessarily weigh on competing platforms, "the company said. "Such tactics could encourage customers to shift orders to the Nasdaq to receive the compensation they deserve, she says, and allow the Nasdaq to reap the benefits of market share gains they would not have obtained otherwise. "
