Investors

With Facebook's upcoming initial public offering, some Facebook fans and potential investors are looking to get into the action without plunking down some significant cash, according to a blog post on Latimes.com . Some would-be investors are turning to services that allow them to buy a single share of stock. These services, which include websites such as GiveAShare , OneShare and FrameAStock offer their customers the option to buy one share above the selling price, according to the story.

The uproar over the handling of Facebook Inc.'s stock launch grew louder Wednesday as lawyers representing investors sued Morgan Stanley and other major Wall Street firms involved in the deal, as well as the Nasdaq Stock Market and Facebook executives. The flurry of lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny of the highly anticipated initial public offering seemed to come almost on cue after the social networking company's stock price slumped after it began trading on Friday. "It was so overly hyped.

Even the hottest initial public stock offerings can lose steam after their first day of trading. Sure, company insiders will make money selling at the opening price. And investors who used connections or big bucks to score shares at the IPO price will profit if they sell after a first-day "pop. " For everyone else, the wildly mixed record of other ballyhooed IPOs beyond their first trading session offers a lesson. It's one that should remind us that buying Facebook stock Friday provides a chance to lose money.

Morgan Stanley, the lead investment bank in Facebook's troubled initial public offering, will compensate retail investors who overpaid when they bought Facebook's stock in Friday's IPO, according to a source familiar with the matter. The person said the firm is reviewing orders its retail clients placed for Facebook stock, and will make price adjustments if the clients paid too much. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged. After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied. The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market — Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few...

When the head of JPMorgan Chase met with shareholders to answer for a trading loss of more than $2 billion Tuesday, it was against an evolving political backdrop: Donors from big banks are betting on Mitt Romney to defeat President Obama and repeal new restraints on risky, large-scale investments. "There's no doubt that there's been a big diminution of support for the president," said William M. Daley, Obama's former chief of staff and a former top JPMorgan Chase executive. "People in the financial services sector are saying, ‘The...

Converting a standard individual retirement account to a Roth IRA is a great way to avoid an unexpected huge tax hit to your nest egg and create tax-free income for future use. Unless it isn't. A Roth IRA's biggest draw is that it allows investors to reap investment gains tax free; that is, contributions are made with after-tax money, and any gains are not subsequently shared with Uncle Sam later. Investors are allowed to convert a traditional IRA into a Roth, so long as they pay taxes - at current rates - on the balance being converted.

Mitt Romney has long called himself a venture capitalist, experience he says helps him understand the economy better than other candidates for president. But he spent much more of his career in leveraged buyouts than in the investments in start-up companies known as venture capital. Romney's one true venture deal was Staples Inc., the office supply superstore, two years after he started Bain Capital. He wasn't the first to discover Staples; another Boston venture firm introduced him to Staples founder Tom Stemberg.

Facebook Inc. chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is meeting would-be investors as the largest social-networking service begins marketing its initial public offering, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Facebook, after meeting potential shareholders in New York Monday, has arranged meetings in Boston and Palo Alto, Calif., this week. The person who discussed Zuckerberg's attendance asked not to be identified because the meetings are private. CNBC televised footage of a hooded sweatshirt-clad Zuckerberg arriving at the Sheraton New York Hotel.

Don't try to friend MaLi Arwood on Facebook. You won't find her there. You won't find Thomas Chin, either. Or Kariann Goldschmitt. Or Jake Edelstein. More than 900 million people worldwide check their Facebook accounts at least once a month, but millions more are Facebook holdouts. They say they don't want Facebook. They insist they don't need Facebook. They say they're living life just fine without the long-forgotten acquaintances that the world's largest social network sometimes resurrects.

The uproar over the handling of Facebook Inc.'s stock launch grew louder Wednesday as lawyers representing investors sued Morgan Stanley and other major Wall Street firms involved in the deal, as well as the Nasdaq Stock Market and Facebook executives. The flurry of lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny of the highly anticipated initial public offering seemed to come almost on cue after the social networking company's stock price slumped after it began trading on Friday. "It was so overly hyped.

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and other underwriters along with Facebook Inc. were sued by investors who claimed they were misled in the purchase of the social network firm's stock. The plaintiffs, who are seeking to proceed on behalf of a class of Facebook investors, said the company and the banks didn't disclose lower revenue estimates before the share sale. The members of the proposed class have lost more than $2.5 billion since the initial public offering last week, according to a complaint filed today in...

Yottaa Inc. , a Boston-based company providing Web optimization services, said Tuesday that it has closed $9 million in Series B funding. All existing investors, including General Catalyst Partners, Stata Venture Partners, and Cambridge West Ventures, returned for this round and were joined by additional undisclosed investors, Yottaa said. Yottaa describes its offering as an "easy-to-use cloud service that brings speed, scale, and security" to a business customer's website.

After more than three years of the national unemployment rate averaging about 9 percent, any federal legislation with the word "jobs" in it is bound to draw attention when approved by Congress and signed by the president. And when the measure goes by the promising acronym "JOBS," the buzz can really get humming. But the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups), authorized by President Obama in April, is less about increasing employment than it is making life easier for startups and businesses to raise investor funds.

Converting a standard individual retirement account to a Roth IRA is a great way to avoid an unexpected huge tax hit to your nest egg and create tax-free income for future use. Unless it isn't. A Roth IRA's biggest draw is that it allows investors to reap investment gains tax free; that is, contributions are made with after-tax money, and any gains are not subsequently shared with Uncle Sam later. Investors are allowed to convert a traditional IRA into a Roth, so long as they pay taxes - at current rates - on the balance being converted.

Investors who see opportunity in Asia's growth typically think of China first. That's one reason why there's no shortage of options for U.S. investors looking to buy a stock mutual fund that focuses on China. But venture southward to another Asian giant, India, and there are just 10 specialized funds to choose from — less than one-third of the number focusing on China. That's despite the fact that India is projected to overtake China as the world's most populous nation around 2030.

Massachusetts could be among the first states in the country to raise money for social services by offering investors the chance to earn profits on programs they establish. The approach is known as “social impact bonds’’ or “pay for success.’’ It is based on the idea that if programs backed by investors succeed in reducing, for example, the number of inmates in prison or the homeless population, governments will realize big savings, which they can tap to pay off investors with healthy returns.

SWANTON, Vt. -- Town officials and those who work in the marble industry had their hopes raised when a long-abandoned quarry that had produced rare red marble started finding new activity in 2001. But now the quarry is closed again. And the man who had led the effort to reopen it, identified as John Byors, was arrested last week and faces federal charges of bilking investors. An FBI agent has estimated that Byors raised $7 million from 75 investors. He is said to have told them he would put the money into rejuvenating the Swanton quarry, first...

A German data protection official has warned Facebook investors that the social networking site's $38 starting share price is based on practices that breach European privacy rules. Thilo Weichert, the data protection commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein says shareholders should be aware that if European privacy authorities have their way, "Facebook's business model will implode. " Weichert was quoted by German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday saying Facebook could be ordered to stop transferring user information to the United States.

NEW YORK — Responding to extraordinary demand, Facebook said Wednesday that it would sell more stock in the company's initial public offering. But ahead of the IPO, a debate emerged between two of the nation's largest automakers: Does it pay to advertise on the social network? General Motors, the nation's largest automaker, said it would abandon Facebook ads after concluding they were ineffective. At the same time, Ford reaffirmed its commitment to Facebook, saying the relationship was stronger than ever.