• Forbes, Monday, May 21, 2012 11:44 AM

Casting doubt on Facebook’s fortunes, shares of the company were trading below its initial IPO price on Monday. What gives? “The initial estimates of the IPO selling range were in the $28-$35 range,” Forbes recalls. “Perhaps the range that was calculated before the final frenzy of the road show and the last week to the IPO is the natural support range? Maybe it is just that the raise in the target price plus the issuance of more stock into the IPO was the froth that is now being blown away?”

Whatever the real answer, we’ll likely have to wait a few weeks to find out. The only thing we know now, as Forbes notes, is that: “For the stock to have broken so decisively down through the obvious support level that the underwriters will have at least tried to maintain means that the selling pressure must be very high.”

After a long build-up -- and amid rampant curiosity in a company that has seemingly transformed American culture overnight -- it was generally accepted that Facebook’s market debut would witness a first-day “pop.” Not that the shares are languishing, analysts and Web watchers are already questioning Facebook’s future as a public company.

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