Hacker News Reader

Actually the price tracked FB expected revenue very well. For some time after IPO, there was serious doubt on FB mobile ad revenue (as the desktop ad was not growing enough). They somehow grew the mobile add very well and that's when the stock price made the U-turn. Whether the mobile ad is a proven business or not is still the 100B dollar question.

App installs which is like yahoo banner ads of dotcom 1.0. Re targeting is effective though.

Actually they're not volatile. They will predictably fall below the IPO price in a majority case after 18 months of their IPO. This holds true back during the dotcom days and even now. It is the minority that build an actual business that grows.

Is it really a sign of proper valuation and longterm stability to simply survive an IPO?

Not every overvalued public offering was such initially. This isn't the case now, nor was it the case during the first bubble.

I agree with you. There is a huge difference between being CEO of a private company and CEO of a public company.