Facebook's public offering was one of the most anticipated in history, and Nasdaq's systems stumbled on the first day. It was also one of the largest offerings ever, valuing the company at more than $100 billion. By 2012 about 900 million people used Facebook to share photos, news and messages with friends, and the News Feed kept them coming back. The company was moving fast to make money from mobile ads.

A Harvard Dorm Room

Mark Zuckerberg launched the site from his Harvard dorm room in 2004 with roommates and classmates. It spread to other colleges, and in 2006 it opened to everyone. Zuckerberg turned down offers to sell. His bet was that real identity and real friends would make a social network more valuable than anonymous ones. That idea won Facebook a huge, loyal audience.

Glitches at Nasdaq

Facebook priced at $38 a share in May 2012. Technical glitches at Nasdaq marred the first day, and the stock barely held its price. Shares fell by about half that year. Then Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp and moved to mobile ads, and growth took off. In 2021 it renamed itself Meta Platforms. Mark Zuckerberg still leads the company, and its users now number in the billions.

Cover: Two Young Women Reading Books, Suzuki Harunobu. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for two young women reading books.