Facebook to buy back additional $9 billion of shares

 

FILE PHOTO - A 3D printed Facebook logo is seen in front of displayed cyber code in this illustration taken March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc will buy back an additional $9 billion of its shares, as it looks to pacify investors following a slump in its stock.

 

The social media giant's shares, which have tumbled more than 22 percent this year, rose nearly 1 percent in extended trading.

 

The new program is in addition to a share buyback plan of up to $15 billion announced by the company last year.

 

Facebook is being investigated by lawmakers in Britain after consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which worked on Donald Trump's U.S. presidential campaign, obtained personal data of 87 million Facebook users from a researcher.

 

Concerns over the social media giant's practices, the role of political adverts and possible foreign interference in the 2016 Brexit vote and U.S. elections are among the topics being investigated by British and European regulators.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-08

And this is yet one more recurring pattern that demonstrates the sickness of the stock market.  Tax cuts, which are used to do more stock buybacks, to keep the market bubble inflated, and get the executives bigger bonuses. The good news is this isn't helping FB. It's down in after hours, even with the news.

Edited December 8, 20187 yr by zydeco

i guess it's a  good time to  buy  some of their stock back. However I wouldn't touch their stock with a ten foot pole. They are about to go to regulatory hell. Facebook doesn't have much good will on it's side these  days. People are rapidly moving away from their platform.

 

Google is  another company I would be wary to buy right now. I like Google enough but extended hearings in DC and regulations and taxes being proposed in the EU and across the world make me want to avoid "data" heavy stocks. If you are going to pay a grand for Google you might as well bypass it and go with Amazon. 

3 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

i guess it's a  good time to  buy  some of their stock back. However I wouldn't touch their stock with a ten foot pole. They are about to go to regulatory hell. Facebook doesn't have much good will on it's side these  days. People are rapidly moving away from their platform.

 

Google is  another company I would be wary to buy right now. I like Google enough but extended hearings in DC and regulations and taxes being proposed in the EU and across the world make me want to avoid "data" heavy stocks. If you are going to pay a grand for Google you might as well bypass it and go with Amazon. 

Amazon PE ratio over 100, Facebook now only 20. Never thought I would see the day with Facebook on a PE of 20! Watching this closely it may well be worth a punt if it drops further. Like you say thanks to it's bias on censorship it is a likely candidate for regulation or even a forced breakup. Had they enforced the hate speech rules fairly they would be a much safer bet, but all big tech has been infested with an extreme progressive agenda.

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Amazon PE ratio over 100, Facebook now only 20. Never thought I would see the day with Facebook on a PE of 20! Watching this closely it may well be worth a punt if it drops further. Like you say thanks to it's bias on censorship it is a likely candidate for regulation or even a forced breakup. Had they enforced the hate speech rules fairly they would be a much safer bet, but all big tech has been infested with an extreme progressive agenda.

 

There is talk in many countries of taxing companies that farm their customers data new ways. Something like data collected in Brazil would be taxed as revenue with in Brazil for example. If other countries in the EU follow through on this data-centric companies like GOOGL and FB could be subject to tax liabilities all over the globe for billions of dollars.

 

Wall Street definitely doesn't like the tax word much. Any news of hearings or regulations that cast a shadow of a doubt are overly punished in the current climate. 

On 12/9/2018 at 2:07 AM, Cryingdick said:

i guess it's a  good time to  buy  some of their stock back. However I wouldn't touch their stock with a ten foot pole. They are about to go to regulatory hell. Facebook doesn't have much good will on it's side these  days. People are rapidly moving away from their platform.

 

Google is  another company I would be wary to buy right now. I like Google enough but extended hearings in DC and regulations and taxes being proposed in the EU and across the world make me want to avoid "data" heavy stocks. If you are going to pay a grand for Google you might as well bypass it and go with Amazon. 

Regulation always helps the big boys and prevents the start ups due to administrative costs and lawsuits. Doubt seriously FB and Google and their lobbyists are fighting regulation.  You ever know a government that could regulate anything without layers of bureaucracy and lawyers? 

 

I agree Amazon is also a buy.  

15 hours ago, Wake Up said:

Regulation always helps the big boys and prevents the start ups due to administrative costs and lawsuits. Doubt seriously FB and Google and their lobbyists are fighting regulation.  You ever know a government that could regulate anything without layers of bureaucracy and lawyers? 

 

I agree Amazon is also a buy.  

 

Also as I said in a previous post another hurdle for FB and GOOGL is the plans of many governments to tax data collected in their jurisdictions as if it were realized gains. 

 

That's the reason I am more optimistic about AMZN than the others. AMZN does data but also has a lot of other things going for it. 

 

The other thing is many people are ditching FB in droves which in turn makes it easier for their friends and acquaintances to also pull the plug.

 

Maybe they can grow because of WhatsApp or Instagram. However right now at least in the west their main product is looked upon with the disdain of crack cocaine. Nobody likes admitting to using FB these days.   In Thailand I am sure  it's a different story. Would be interested to see numbers out of Thailand. That is the most addicted market in the world.

 

 

On 12/9/2018 at 6:05 AM, TopDeadSenter said:

Amazon PE ratio over 100, Facebook now only 20. Never thought I would see the day with Facebook on a PE of 20! Watching this closely it may well be worth a punt if it drops further. Like you say thanks to it's bias on censorship it is a likely candidate for regulation or even a forced breakup. Had they enforced the hate speech rules fairly they would be a much safer bet, but all big tech has been infested with an extreme progressive agenda.

In fact Facebook is in trouble for lying about its privacy policies including allowing Trump supporting data miners to access customer info for free. It's just because of your political obsessions that you cast this as having to do with "an extreme progressive agenda."

18 hours ago, Wake Up said:

Regulation always helps the big boys and prevents the start ups due to administrative costs and lawsuits. Doubt seriously FB and Google and their lobbyists are fighting regulation.  You ever know a government that could regulate anything without layers of bureaucracy and lawyers? 

 

You doubt wrongly. 

AS ZUCKERBERG SMILES TO CONGRESS, FACEBOOK FIGHTS STATE PRIVACY LAWS

https://www.wired.com/story/despite-zuckerberg-pledge-facebook-fights-state-privacy-laws/

 

Amazon, Microsoft, and Uber are paying big money to kill a California privacy initiative

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/15/17468292/amazon-microsoft-uber-california-consumer-privacy-act