[go: up one dir, main page]

Exclusive

Liam Payne was 'cycling through periods of ruinous behavior' prior to his tragic death at 31, source says
Business

A ‘Facebook fund’

By
Garett Sloane
Published June 28, 2011, 4:00 a.m. ET

(
)

Facebook is now trading publicly, if only indirectly.

GSV Capital, a newly public investment fund, made good on its promise to offer everyday investors a piece of Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking giant by buying 225,000 shares of the private company on a secondary market at $29.28 each.

The $6.6 million investment, while just a sliver of Facebook’s $70 billion value, nonetheless accounts for 15 percent of GSV’s portfolio — which has been open to investors since the fund’s April IPO.

Investors were clearly encouraged by the Facebook deal and, perhaps anxious to jump aboard the fast-growing tech titan, lifted GSV 44 percent yesterday to $14.80, which was still below the IPO price of $15.

“It’s clear what our strategy was, but until people see you could do it, there’s a fair amount of disbelief,” CEO Michael Moe said of GSV’s mission to buy stakes in high-growth private companies. “It’s nice to see the stock respond.”

Moe is no stranger to the secondary markets in which elite private company shares are traded. He founded neXtup, a research firm that provides market analysis on opaque private companies such as Facebook. Moe also is on the board of advisors for SharesPost, an online platform that facilitates private trades.

GSV is a client of neXtup and pays the company for research. Moe said he does not see a conflict in the relationship between the companies but would consider altering the relationship if it posed a problem, he said.

GSV bought the Facebook shares through SecondMarket, a private company stock exchange, not SharesPost. GSV’s Facebook shopping did take it through SharesPost and a number of other potential sellers, but in the end SecondMarket offered the best deal.

The $29.28 share price was below the latest trading round announced by SharesPost last week, in which Facebook shares cleared at $35 apiece.

“We know the companies we have an interest in, and have good knowledge on where to get shares,” Moe said. “We work those relationships very hard, and people know we have multiple sources we would go to buy and a strong perspective on the price we’d be willing to pay [per share].”

GSV is close to a handful of investments focusing on social media, mobile and cloud computing, green tech and education, Moe said. gsloane@nypost.com