Nasdaq to reimburse investors

NEW YORK – The Nasdaq stock exchange tried to make amends with investors ensnared by technical problems on the day Facebook went public.

Nasdaq said Wednesday afternoon that it would hand out $40 million in cash and credit to reimburse investment firms that lost money on Facebook’s opening day because of computer glitches at the exchange.

One broker, Knight Capital, said the planned reimbursements weren’t nearly enough, encapsulating the complaints that other brokers and investment firms were making privately.

Facebook went public May 18 amid great fanfare, but computer glitches at Nasdaq threw the day into chaos. The opening was delayed by half an hour. Technical problems kept many investors from buying shares in the morning, selling them later in the day, or even from knowing whether their orders went through. Some investors complained that they were left holding shares they didn’t want.

Nasdaq will pay about $14 million in cash to investment companies that bought or sold shares, or tried to, at certain levels. The rest will be given as credit, meaning the firms won’t have to pay as much in the usual fees required for trading on Nasdaq. Nasdaq predicted that those benefits could last as long as six months.

Nasdaq still has to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for its plan.