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Short sellers desperate to bet against Facebook shortly after its debut on public markets are now getting their chance. Shares of the much-anticipated IPO have fallen sharply since they opened at $42.05 on Friday amid an initial flurry of trading problems at the Nasdaq and after news that top underwriters cut their revenue estimates just days before the offering. Yet, short sellers are still eager to bet against the stock given its lofty valuation.

Investors File Suit Against Facebook, Underwriters By DAVID BENOIT Three Facebook Inc. investors filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, alleging the company and its underwriters failed to properly disclose changes to analysts' forecasts made at the underwriting banks. The suit follows reports that analysts at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut their revenue forecasts on Facebook amid the investor roadshow, a change that wasn't widely disseminated. Late Tuesday, Massachusetts sent a subpoena to Morgan Stanley following the reports. Several other plaintiffs' lawyers have said they filed suits over the offering in other courts throughout the...

<p>NEW YORK—Facebook Inc. FB -6.57% shares fell below the initial public offering price of $38 Monday, its second day of trading, a black eye for all those involved with the social networking company going public.</p> <p>Facebook shares changed hands at $37.08, down 3%, in premarket trading.</p>

.Facebook Inc. FB +0.61%took eight years to stage one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever. The anticlimax came Friday, as Wall Street bankers struggled to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with a loss. The stock had been widely predicted to soar on its first day. Instead, up until the closing moments of the trading session, Facebook's underwriters battled to keep the stock from slipping below its offering price of $38 a share. Such a stumble would have been a significant embarrassment, particularly for a prominent new issue like Facebook, the most heavily traded...

Talk about a "Beautiful Day." Once the smoke clears from Friday's (May 18) Facebook IPO
, U2 singer Bono could be the richest musician on the planet. According to England's NME, the already flush, tech-savvy
 Irish rock icon owns 2.3 percent of the shares of Facebook through his investment group, Elevation Partners. Well before Facebook filed papers to go public, Elevation paid $90 million for the shares in 2009 and after what is expected to be the second-biggest IPO in history, Bono's share could be worth more than $1.5 billion.

New York Times bestselling author of Obama Zombies and gonzo journalist Jason Mattera takes the first stand with Hollywood Hypocrites, as he slays the Left’s sacred celebrity cows and teaches Obama’s Tinseltown foot soldiers their most important lesson yet: No longer can they attempt to deny Americans the very liberties they use to catapult themselves to prosperity and stardom. In his trademark eye-opening, no-holds-barred, and hilarious style, Mattera puts scores of A-list celebrities, including Sting, Madonna, Bono, Al Gore, Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Bruce Springsteen, and many, many more under the microscope to analyze whether they live by...

Rick Santorum--the surprise almost-first-place finisher in the Iowa GOP presidential caucus Tuesday--advocates a hawkish, internationalist and compassionate foreign policy deeply informed by his socially conservative, Roman Catholic faith. Santorum had been a prominent leader in the GOP Senate caucus from 2001 through 2007, when he served as the chair of the Senate Republican Policy conference. The Pennsylvania lawmaker had been "a big supporter of AIDS funding in the Senate," a former Santorum staffer told Yahoo News Wednesday on condition of anonymity because she does not work for campaign. "He took the lead in funding for African development. He cares a...

Chaz Bono braved controversy to be the first transgender contestant on Dancing with the Stars, but he revealed in an interview today that it was jibes over his weight that troubled him the most. But it wasn't from ignorant, faceless haters that the 42-year-old faced these attacks, but rather from the show's judges, whom Bono has blasted as 'disrespectful.' The only child of Cher, 65 , and the late Sonny Bono, told Good Morning America: 'I was called a basketball, a penguin, an Ewok, and I just didn't appreciate it.' -snip- 'I took so much away from this. This was...

Sources on staff at “Dancing With the Stars” say the producers at the hit show have been very surprised by the outpouring of negative reaction to the casting of Chaz Bono as a contestant on the new season — launching Sept. 19 on WLS-Channel 7. “Of course, they knew there would be some anti-Bono calls and emails,” said a longtime “DWTS” insider. “But this has been more vicious and in larger volume than was anticipated. … Some of the comments are downright scary,” the source added. It seems some of the negativity may be coming from ABC viewers in the...

Amidst all of the kerfluffle over the casting of both a gay man (Carson Kressley) and a transgender man (Chaz Bono) in the 13th season of "Dancing With the Stars," an old question has been raised again: Isn't it time for this top-rated series to allow for same-gender dance partners?

Don't you dare criticize the world's most perfect celebrity — or his charitable schemes.Wow. I make a living taking on corrupt unions and incompetent politicians, but I’ve never experienced the kind of vitriol like what I’ve received criticizing U2 lead singer Bono for his tireless and tiring political activism.The article in question, originally published in the Baltimore Sun, prompted representatives from Bono’s non-profit ONE campaign to pester the Sun, challenging me (unsuccessfully) on the facts. Now Maryland Senator Ben Cardin (D) is attacking me for daring to challenge St. Bono and the efficacy of ONE. Cardin accuses me of spreading...

Cuba’s leading dissident, Oscar Elias Biscet, said he “was shaking with happiness” as he learned Thursday that rock star and social activist Bono had sung his praises during a jam-packed U2 concert in Miami. The 73,000-strong audience at the Sun Life stadium roared with delight Wednesday when Bono urged support for the 49-year-old Biscet and declared that “some day soon Cuba will be free.” “As you read me what he said, I was shaking with happiness because it showed it’s good when one is chosen as a symbol of his people,” Biscet told El Nuevo Herald, which first told him...

U2 and its frontman Bono, known for their global poverty-fighting efforts, were accused of dodging taxes in Ireland by activists who crashed their performance at England's Glastonbury festival. The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut inflated a 6-metre balloon emblazoned with the message "U Pay Your Tax 2." Security guards wrestled them to the ground before deflating the balloon and taking it away. About 30 people were involved in the angry clash. "Tax(es) nestling in the band's bank account should be helping to keep open the hospitals, schools and libraries that are closing all over Ireland," Art Uncut member Charlie Dewar said...

Miley Cyrus tweeted: “‘IF WE ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE NEXT THING U KNOW PEOPLE WILL BE MARRYING GOLD FISH.’ — Rick Santorum UO contributed $13,000 to this mans campaign.” Miley Cyrus was protesting the news that the president of Urban Outfitters has contributed to former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. She was also taking some liberties with arguments Santorum has made about protecting traditional marriage. (Apparently the longtime Disney star is a proponent of freedom of choice in retail and marriage but not in campaign giving.) Such is pretty much the media life of Rick Santorum these days. Just Google him. When...

http://bono.house.gov/Biography/committees.htm The Honorable Mary Bono Mack Chair, Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Congresswoman Mary Bono (R-CA) is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. If Congressman Anthony Weiner does not report the computer hacking crime he alleges to the FBI or Capitol Police, it may be up to Congresswoman Bono to hold hearings into the matter. Hacking into the account of a sitting U.S. member of Congress is a serious offense.

Chastity Bono, the daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono, has undergone gender reassignment surgery and now asserts she [that’s right, she] is a man. She now wants to be called Chaz. She has written a tell-all entitled Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man, and has appeared on "The David Letterman Show" and "Oprah." A documentary about her journey called Becoming Chaz premiered on Oprah’s OWN network. I know my thoughts on this matter will be politically incorrect, but they are entirely biologically and psychiatrically accurate. First, Chaz Bono is not a man. She is a woman who...

The Irish pop star Bono has been criticised for apparently endorsing a song which includes the lyric: "Shoot the Boer".The U2 frontman said the song, which was sung during the fight against apartheid, had its place, like music supporting the Irish Republican Army. > In an interview with the South African Sunday Times, Bono said: "When I was a kid and I'd sing songs I remember my uncles singing... rebel songs about the early days of the Irish Republican Army." He went on to sing a song whose lyrics spoke of carrying guns and readying them for action. "We sang...

Bono in Tokyo in 2008: My prayer is that we become better in looking after our planet.And the Keen for Green group applauds: If your (sic) looking for an environmental role model, Irish rockstar, Bono (born Paul David Hewson, May 10, 1960), of the band U2 is a good place to start. Bono ... participated in a tree planting ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Japan, in 2008, where efforts are being taken to turn a landfill into an 88 hectare forest. Bono has also been active in the Greenpeace community since 1993 when his entire band participated in a protest against...

For the first time since B.C. Forbes launched his namesake magazine 93 years ago, there will be no members of the founding family involved in the day-day operations of the corporation. The reigning Forbes family scions -- Chairman and CEO Steve Forbes and Chief Operating Officer Tim Forbes -- are exiting management of Forbes Media and turning the firm over to an outsider. Publishing industry veteran Mike Perlis will be president and CEO, a new title at Forbes, as it scrambles to solve the riddle of how to blend its digital and print domains. Steve Forbes, who is also editor-in-chief...

Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its lavish salaries after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy. The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6m in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent). The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1m went towards paying salaries. The revelations come at an embarrassing time for the Irish rock legend, who is New York this week lobbying governments at the UN's Millenium Goals summit to do more...

Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its lavish salaries after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy. The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6m in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent). The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1m went towards paying salaries. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314543/Bonos-ONE-foundation-giving-tiny-percentage-funds-charity.html#ixzz10N2I90T2

<p>Nothing says, "Wipe out AIDS and poverty" like Band-Aids and a black-and-white cookie.</p> <p>That's what Bono's $15 million nonprofit the ONE Campaign -- which gives only a pittance of proceeds to its hunger and health causes -- bombarded New York newsrooms with last week to get press for its push for billions in African AIDS funding from President Obama.</p>

California Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has pulled her "bus tour" ad criticizing her Democratic opponent after business owners complained it tarnished the image of Palm Springs. The Republican's campaign ads were released online Aug. 30. The ad criticizing Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet featured an animated tour bus traveling through the Southern California desert resort city with a guide pointing out vacant store fronts, the closed-on-Fridays City Hall and an unemployment line.

Chaz Bono is officially a man and has his new name. A judge on Thursday granted a request to change the name and gender of the 41-year-old writer, activist and reality TV star. Chaz Bono was born a girl to Sonny Bono and Cher and underwent a gender-change operation last year. Bono was represented in court by attorney Kristina Wertz of the Transgender Law Center. Wertz says the judge's order is an important step in Chaz Bono's transition and will allow him to reflect his new identity on a variety of official documents. Wertz says in a statement, "Chaz couldn't...

Media Bias: As the Gulf Coast faced ecological disaster, the president yukked it up with White House correspondents. His Saturday radio address didn't even mention the oil spill. President Bush, call your office. Rarely has media sycophancy been on such sharp display as in the largely indifferent response to President Obama's own indifference to the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The coverage has been far different from that given to President Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The White House announced Saturday morning that Obama would head to the Gulf Coast on Sunday, just a...

On Thursday, Time magazine published a love letter from activist and musician Bono to former President Bill Clinton. "There are professors who pretend to be populists and populists who pretend to be professors," the U2 lead-singer began his piece in the Heroes section of the 2010 Time 100 list. "But there have never been a head and heart so perfectly matched as the pair within William Jefferson Clinton," he continued. What followed was even more sick-making (h/t NBer Rusty Weiss):

Bono's Investment Firm Still Hasn't Found What It's Looking For By Rachel Bailey 24/7 Wall Street recently had some strong words to say about U2 frontman Bono. Namely, based on a string of disastrous choices made by his investment firm, Elevation Partners, that he’s the Worst Investor in America. Among the companies Elevation has poured money into is Palm, maker of the unsuccessful Pre smartphone. “There is a 90% chance that they go bankrupt or get acquired within a year," a hedge fund managing partner told 24/7 Wall Street. Then there’s the restaurant review site Yelp, which was sued for...

The singers Bono and Bob Geldof have incurred the wrath of Brian Johnson, a fellow rock star and frontman of AC/DC, over their celebrity activism. Johnson, the gravel-voiced British singer of Australia’s biggest rock band, has joined a growing group of critics of Geldof and the U2 singer over their very public charity work, saying they should stop lecturing audiences about charity work and instead do their good deeds in private. “I do it myself, I don’t tell everybody I’m doing it,” Johnson, 62, told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper. “I don’t tell everybody they should give money – they can’t...

...I am seized by each, and moved by its potential to change our world. Return of the Automobile as a Sexual Object ...That’s why the Obama administration — while it still holds the keys to the big automakers — ought to put some style fascists into the mix... Intellectual Property Developers ...A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators... and the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business... An Equal Right to Pollute (and...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Irish rock star Bono called Sunday for tougher controls over the spread of intellectual property over the Internet, arguing that file swiping and sharing hurt creators of cultural products

Forbes axed at least 30 editorial people, yesterday -- but the bloodletting isn't over, according to insiders, NyPo is reporting. Today's layoffs mark the third round of editorial cuts in a year. In January, the dot-com and print were merged and 50 people were let go. In the latest round, the magazine's bureaus were particularly hard hit. Many of Forbes' offices will be closed around the country and overseas, and those who worked in bureaus and survived the cuts will become correspondents working out of their homes, sources said. "We -- and the entire media world -- have been hard...

Achtung, baby: U2 will play a free concert in Berlin to help the city celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Music network MTV said the Irish rockers will perform in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 5 during the MTV Europe Music Awards U2 manager Paul McGuinness said it would be exciting to be in Berlin, "20 years almost to the day since the wall came down."

Bono’s appearance in a pre-recorded video message at the Conservative Party Conference caused a bit of an internet uproar. Such was the outpouring of hostile comments on Twitter (with popular taglines including #Bonoisat— and #BonoToryScum) that the social networking site temporarily broke down. So you are a rock superstar for 30 years, a Nobel peace prize nominee and tireless charity proselytiser and what do you have to do to become a trending topic on Twitter? Talk to the Tories. (snip) If Bono speaks to the Labour party (as he did last week, introducing Gordon Brown’s key note speech), or sends...

To encounter Bono at one party conference might be construed a misfortune. To be subjected to a Save The Third World sermon by this runty rock squillionaire at both Labour and Conservative party conferences was enough to make a reasonable man come over all Pete Townsendish and want to snap Bono's guitar in two. What is it about this whiny little Dubliner that makes one's gorge rise? What is it that makes him feel he can lecture the rest of us about how to spend our tax money, while he himself leads a life of near-unimaginable wealth? Has he ever...

I am writing a paper called "Hollywood Interference" and I would appreciate it if my fellow FReepers could give me quotes and links to their quasi-political activities. I am writing a paper on how actors and actresses have interfered and damaged the US by their interference in affairs of state.

’Something I’ve Never Seen Before’ Saturday 8 August 2009, by Corinne/Dead I had to write about this. I simply had to. I hope I’m not speaking out of turn here as this is U2’s site and hallowed ground for all of you but this story needs to be told. The shows so far on this tour have all been amazing and each night the crowd’s reaction to U2 has been loud and joyous and passionate. Last night in Poland though was something else. Hard to explain. Let me try. I have never in my life seen a crowd reaction like...

Here is video of Bono revealing in an interview that President Obama congratulated him for avoiding a hug with President Bush at a National Prayer Breakfast event. Bono revealed he was trying to avoid hugging Bush, despite the fact President Bush supported his initiatives to help Aids victims in Africa, in fact, far more than any President in history. When Bono sat down next to then Sen. Obama at the event, Bono says Obama told him, "Nice work with the hug dodge." That really speaks well of both Bono and Obama, doesn't it. It would have been terrible for Bono...

Eight so-called republicans voted “Yes” for the Cap and Trade (American Clean Energy and Security Act) tax bill that goes against the most basic of core conservative principles.Four of the eight RINO’s active Twitter accounts, so we checked their page at 6:00PM PST, more than 24 hours after they helped the democrats pass what was no doubt the most devastating vote they have ever made in the House of Representatives. Let’s see what they tweeted (posted, for those of you not fluent in the language of the bird). Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) @markbonomackNot even a mention of Cap and Trade,...

Political and social activist Chastity Bono – the only child of entertainers Cher and the late Sonny Bono – began undergoing a sex change shortly after her 40th birthday on March 4. "Cher is very supportive and has known about Chastity wanting to do this for a very long time," a source tells PEOPLE. "This will be a long process but it's something Chastity has wanted to do for many years." Bono's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told TMZ, which first reported the story, "Yes, it's true – Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his...

Los Angeles, CA (BANG) - Cher's daughter is having a sex change. Chastity Bono - the 40-year-old daughter of the "Believe" singer and her late husband Sonny - began the lengthy gender reassignment process earlier this year. She has asked family and friends to call her Chaz, and will have surgery to give her male genitals later this year. Her spokesman said: "Chaz has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones." "It is Chaz's hope that his...

After playing the Obama inauguration a couple of months back, the pop star Bono flew back home to a rare barrage of hostile headlines. As you know, the global do-gooder wants us to send more of our money to Africa. So why is he sending his money to the Netherlands? From the Irish Times: “Bono ‘Hurt’ By Criticism Of U2 Move To Netherlands To Cut Tax.” U2 hasn’t, in fact, moved to the Netherlands. You won’t find them busking outside downtown Rotterdam mosques of a Friday night. But they did move some of their business interests from the Emerald Isle...

The Zambian economist and author of the new book Dead Aid explains her beef with the U2 frontman, her love for the Chinese, and her high hopes for her home continent. If there is such a thing as a sensation in African development, it would be Dambisa Moyo. The author of the new book Dead Aid, she has taken on many of the conventions of the relationship between the West and Africa--aid, celebrity spokespeople, the "China does bad" storyline that has been covered in this magazine. In her book, she argues that government aid has not helped Africa, despite...

As new 'No Line on the Horizon,' album is released, Dubliners protest band's business shift to Amsterdam.Dublin, Ireland - The band that loves to rail against global corporate malfeasance is being criticized at home over allegations of tax dodging. U2, whose new album, "No Line on the Horizon," is being released Tuesday in the United States, has lately found itself the focus of protests in Dublin over global tax avoidance. The controversy stems from 2006, when the band moved its publishing company to the Netherlands to avoid a potential multi-million-euro tax bill after the Irish government capped artists' tax-free earnings...

[photo] Irish demonstrators have had enough. They’re tired of U2 rocker Bono haranguing world leaders to increase taxes when the hypocritical Hibernian band won’t pay its fair share of taxes. While the band staged an concert on the roof of BBC headquarters, a group of demonstrators staged a protest on the street below. They chastised the band for moving its business to the Netherlands to avoid increased Irish taxes. The protesters’ placards read “Bono: pay your taxes” and “Bono: don’t be a banker” and the poetic “We’ll downl’d it 4 free and give the money to charity.”... ...continued

NEW YORK The New York Times will start running Op-Ed columns from rock singer Bono of U2 on Sunday, the paper announced Friday. He will also do a podcast of the piece. Describing him as a "lead singer and anti-poverty activist," the announcement said he has been invited to write a column for the Times beginning this Sunday, and "his columns will appear occasionally on The New York Times Op-Ed page and online at nytimes.com/opinion and will cover a broad range of subjects." “Bono is a great addition to our Op-Ed line-up,” Andrew Rosenthal, Times editorial page editor, said in...

His humanitarian campaigning has earnt him the nickname St Bono. Off duty, however, the U2 singer seems to have been tempted into a spot of hell-raising. Pictures show the 48-year-old with his arm round two bikini-clad girls as they carouse at a beach bar in St Tropez. He also joined his angel-faced companions for more drinking and dancing aboard a private yacht. Bono is usually seen in his role as rock star, family man and anti-poverty campaigner, work for which he earned an honorary knighthood. Only last week, he appeared at a conference to make a call to ‘change the...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (L) and Warren Buffett (R), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, pose on stage with moderator Chris Matthews of MSNBC after taking part in a conversation on leadership and the economy at The Women's Conference 2008 in Long Beach, California October 22, 2008. The conference, hosted by California's First Lady Maria Shriver, has some 14,000 women in attendance. Cherie Blair, left, human rights advocate and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, center, and Cecilia Maria Attias, Chief Executive Officer, The Experience Corp., are seen at The Women's Conference,Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008,...

Below is an edited version of the newsletter. ROCK & RAP CONFIDENTIAL No. 224 / October 2008 CELEBRITY POLITICS…On a perfectly pleasant evening at the end of May, my colleague Gavin Martin and I were sitting with most of the E Street Band and a few dozen others in the bar of the Merion Hotel in Dublin after a Springsteen show. It was getting on towards midnight. The room was conversationally loud. I was drinking red wine because I can’t stand Guinness, never mind my last name. The noise level rose noticeably as another troupe entered. It was U2, in...

$920 Billion More to Bail Out the World AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | September 28, 2008 While the Global Poverty Act has started getting more serious attention, the implications of passage of the Jubilee Act have been generally ignored. With one socialist “bailout” bill apparently on the way to passage by Congress, two more are pending―both of them sponsored by Senator Barack Obama.

ALASKA's trooper guys and polar bears may think Sarah Palin's as cold as a glacier, but she sure heats up a room. *snip* "It was Rupert and Bono who got Sarah Palin to come. Rupert made the call to Sarah's people, and then she met Bono earlier today." And it was Rupert who piloted Sarah around.