Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Morgan Stanley Hit With Subpoena Over Facebook IPO


An IPO that should have made Morgan Stanley the envy of all its Wall Street competitors is turning into a bit of a mess, according to Forbes.

It wasn’t long ago when Morgan Stanley was named lead underwriter in the Facebook IPO, and many called it a blow for rival Goldman Sachs. Days after the hyped IPO though Morgan Stanley is feeling the heat as Facebook shares get pummeled and regulators begin asking the firm questions.

Today there’s news that the investment bank has been issued a subpoena by Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth William Galvin. That comes after reports that Morgan Stanley and other underwriters cut their outlooks for Facebook’s revenue growth during the IPO roadshow. As my colleague Steve Schaefer points out that could be bad news for Morgan if the information was only shared with certain clients.

A spokesperson for Galvin told Reuters, “The Securities Division has put out a subpoena to Morgan Stanley in connection with the analyst’s discussion with certain institutional investors about the revenue prospects for Facebook….”

Get the big picture.  Check out http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/05/22/no-longer-the-envy-of-wall-street-morgan-stanleys-facebook-problem/

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