Facebook stock falls below $30 per share

NEW YORK – Facebook’s stock has fallen below $30 for the first time since its much-awaited public debut this month.

The stock fell $3.07, or 9.6 percent, to close at $28.84 on Tuesday. That’s down 24 percent since its public stock debut. It went as low as $28.65 earlier in the day.

Facebook Inc. began trading publicly on May 18 following one of the most anticipated stock offerings in history.

The site, which has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people, was supposed to offer proof that social media is a viable business and more than a passing fad.

Facebook’s initial public offering of stock priced at $38 and raised $16 billion for Facebook and some of its early investors. It had valued the company at $104 billion – more than Amazon.com Inc., at $98 billion, at the time.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said Facebook’s stock has been hurt by what he called “near-term issues” that include the Nasdaq glitches, an oversupply of stock that was being offered and the allegations of selective information disclosure.

But he rates the stock “Outperform” and has a 12-month target price of $44.

With the latest drop, Facebook’s value is about $79 billion.