If Man United shares get any lower ...

[Dameerto]

Yup, looks like 'market forces' are finally kicking in - from memory this is the first day they've opened quite a bit down on the previous day's closing price. Volume is dropping nice and steadily too.

[ronk]

What about short selling? Would this not also boost the number of sales on day one? I get the point about the shares being sold a number of times but if speculators were selling shares they have not yet purchased on the basis they could buy some back later at a lower price that would add to the number sold would it not?
Not sure what the settlement period is on the part of the NYSE that these shares are listed.

There is such an insignificant market for the shares now, even if the price does fall there is very little to be read into it short term.

Normally there's a period after a flotation where short selling is prohibited. Makes sense anyway from the perspective of the other end of the deal. Who is going to buy a share and then lend it to a shorter immediately. There's too much scope for stock price manipulation.

What happens is profit-taking. Buy the stock early in a flotation, hoping to sell while it's still rising. It's what happened with Facebook. There was a significant proportion of the flotation shares that were bought by investors who considered it a dud stock but thought they could sell nearly immediately and turn a fast buck. Nice earner until you find out that everyone else has the same idea.

[Lev Bronstein]

Kin ell they have dropped off haven't they? Was looking earlier and it was half a dollar higher. I wonder if it's because their underwriter is getting fed up with buying them back...

I spose what they are trading at now and in the future is more of a problem for the suckers that bought them than for the scum themselves. This was a sale of "square feet of turf", and not worth the money.

Except they wanted to sell 16 million of them.
If they sold all 16 million at $14, they raised $112 for the club (to pay off debt) and $112 for themselves(their very own Euro millions)

NASDAQ lists show that nearly twice that number (31,845,61) were traded at 14 dollars on the opening day which I need explaining to me.
But 1st day trades on that basis were worth $446m which even when malc has creamed his bit off would give them a bit of a boost.

So, basically with the Glazers having made $112mill for themselves at $14 a share, should the share price drop to, say, $5 a share, they could buy back the whole 16mill shares for $80mill leaving them with $32mill profit (minus commission) and still own 100% of the club, and maybe repeat the exercise in a few years time.

Canny bastards - I'm beggining to warm to them.

[AG7]

Canny bastards - I'm beggining to warm to them.

me too, me too ... they continue this path and they'll become the next arsenal, just stay there about but forget trophies, $$ (in owners pockets) will be the driving force and philosophy of the club ...

[steveo_88]

Canny bastards - I'm beggining to warm to them.

me too, me too ... they continue this path and they'll become the next arsenal, just stay there about but forget trophies, $$ (in owners pockets) will be the driving force and philosophy of the club ...

All they need now is a disintegrating dressing room and the scum will be like Fenway Sports Group, just not quite good enough, a laughing stock and continually screwing their own fans!

[AG7]

All they need now is a disintegrating dressing room and the scum will be like Fenway Sports Group, just not quite good enough, a laughing stock and continually screwing their own fans!

Well, they have done that ... with RVP signing ... He was King at Arsenal and now an outsider here in this camp ... where Rooney was King, who'll feel threatened whether he admits public ally or not, not for his spot on starting XI but his status within the team ... and then tell me which youngster, Wellbeck etc. would be really happy seeing RVP coming in and taking his place on the XI up front ... so all the ingredients are there, all they need is a poor start and it'll bust up ... Now if only other clubs don't lay down in front of them and give them a proper flight ...

[Slim]

If I'm not mistaken, haven't the Glazier's cost themselves money? If you float 10% of the company for £14/share and the share price drops to £5/share, won't that now dictate the value of their remaining 90% should they ever decide to sell?

[Tokyo Blue]

If I'm not mistaken, haven't the Glazier's cost themselves money? If you float 10% of the company for £14/share and the share price drops to £5/share, won't that now dictate the value of their remaining 90% should they ever decide to sell?

If you're right, they'll just have to keep hold of their shares then. That'd be a bummer.

[blues-clues]

If I'm not mistaken, haven't the Glazier's cost themselves money? If you float 10% of the company for £14/share and the share price drops to £5/share, won't that now dictate the value of their remaining 90% should they ever decide to sell?

I cannot imagine them selling any more of this type of share. Considering how they had to cut back on the original plans and the understandable lack of interest in a non voting no dividend paying share.

Next time they come to the trough they will actually have to offer something in return, voting shares will be worthless if they still only sell a minority but there may be interest in proper shares that start to offer the potential to change the ownership of the club and in the meantime offer a genuine return on investment by way of a dividend.

The thing with these shares is that I cannot see what genuinely influences their value. The value of the shares has fallen since RVP signed but is that because the financial markets think it is a poor deal or because speculators are influencing a market that is barely moving in terms of share transactions??

I am not certain the Glazers really believe they will ever realise £1bn or more from the sale of the club and are just trying to put things in place so they can take as much as possible from it along the way. We shall see!

[Dameerto]

The thing with these shares is that I cannot see what genuinely influences their value. The value of the shares has fallen since RVP signed but is that because the financial markets think it is a poor deal or because speculators are influencing a market that is barely moving in terms of share transactions??

Supply and demand. There's been some manipulation from the underwriter up until a day or two ago, to try and keep the share's value at or above the issue price, but that appears to have been stopped yesterday.

[Alex Sapphire]

Is there a trend already do you think?

EDIT: I think this graph is automatically staying up to date. Freekin clever.

thought I'd bump this as it auto updates and aint pretty today

and in general:

[Ted Hughes]

If I'm not mistaken, haven't the Glazier's cost themselves money? If you float 10% of the company for £14/share and the share price drops to £5/share, won't that now dictate the value of their remaining 90% should they ever decide to sell?

I cannot imagine them selling any more of this type of share. Considering how they had to cut back on the original plans and the understandable lack of interest in a non voting no dividend paying share.

Next time they come to the trough they will actually have to offer something in return, voting shares will be worthless if they still only sell a minority but there may be interest in proper shares that start to offer the potential to change the ownership of the club and in the meantime offer a genuine return on investment by way of a dividend.

The thing with these shares is that I cannot see what genuinely influences their value. The value of the shares has fallen since RVP signed but is that because the financial markets think it is a poor deal or because speculators are influencing a market that is barely moving in terms of share transactions??

I am not certain the Glazers really believe they will ever realise £1bn or more from the sale of the club and are just trying to put things in place so they can take as much as possible from it along the way. We shall see!

Financially, RVP is a bad investment but I doubt that is the biggest reason.

[john68]

Can anyone tell me what size these shares are? Are they double strength? Are they perforated and are they as comfy on your bum as Andrex?
What is the comparable price per sheet with Aldi's own brand bog roll?

The Glazers just might be on to something here that we've all missed. I'll bet Frannie Lee is worried.