Had it not been for the underwriters stepping in to support the price, it would have gone down...........not sideways......
Then the underwriters have a value proposition that makes the position attractive to them. Therefore, the stock is
“worth” what they are willing to pay for it.
I’m sure that there were some individuals in this whole IPO who bought the stock for the sole reason that it was Facebook’s IPO and they just wanted to say they got into the deal. Is their desire to own the stock any more hype than the portfolio manager who buys more stock to protect a larger investment?