Facebook’s stock flirted with a price point of $19 per share by mid-day trading today, as the social networking site’s stock continued to tank.
By 2:30 PM EST, the price had hit $19.90.
Facebook has lost 45{b81fbfd19e1fca5890798868c0714c408bbd5ec471654b6f9630c0fffa6e7eb3} of its value since its initial public offering in May.
This latest drop follows an announcement by the company that two of its senior executives — Katie Mitic and Ethan Beard — were departing to “pursue other ventures”.
Mr. Beard was charged with directing Facebook’s platform partnerships, while Ms. Mitic directed Facebook’s platform marketing.
“After an amazing two years at Facebook, it’s time to start my next entrepreneurial adventure,” said Ms. Mitic in a statement. “I’m so grateful to have met, learned from and worked with the incredible people here.”
Mr. Beard said he was planning on taking some time off to “recharge”.
Last month Facebook’s CTO, Bret Taylor, announced that we was departing the company.
The State of California is particularly concerned about Facebook’s continuing stock slide, as it was counting on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from capital gains taxes from sales of the stock — revenue that is sure to be much lower if Facebook’s stock continues to slide.
“Facebook share prices have fallen far below levels assumed in the state’s revenue projections,” the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts’ Office said in a report.
The financially challenged state was counting on $1.9 billion in revenue from Facebook in the form of capital gains taxes and income taxes.
