Facebook Share Price Tops $45 for First Time Since IPO

Shares in Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the operator of the world’s most popular social-networking service, hit an all-time high yesterday, climbing above the $45 threshold.

The California-based company gained as much as 3.3 percent in value, with shares briefly hitting $45.07 at midday in New York and closing at $45.04 — highs not seen since May 18, 2012, the day of Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO).

Facebook’s shares have surged 60 percent since July when its results exceeded analysts’ expectations. The new high has marked another milestone for the stock, which lost more than half of its value last year from the IPO price of $38 on mounting investor concerns over the company’s ability to make money as users shifted to mobile devices.

The social networking firm has spent more than a year rolling out advertising products that help to reach consumers on smartphones and tablets. In addition to promotions,

Facebook also has stepped up efforts to help companies target the right groups of users with better data.

CEO Zuckerberg yesterday told a San Francisco audience attending a technology conference that Facebook’s first year as a public company was “extremely turbulent”, but the process has made it a “stronger” company.

“We run our company a lot better now,” Zuckerberg said during an interview at the conference put on by AOL Inc.’s TechCrunch blog. “In retrospect, I was too afraid of going public. I have been very outspoken about staying private as long as possible, but I don’t think it’s that necessary to do that.”

The CEO reflected on Facebook’s IPO in response to a question about how he would advise online messaging service Twitter, which is expected to go public within the next year. “I am kind of the person you would want to ask last how to make a smooth IPO,” Zuckerberg said.