Following up on my post on the subject, I had the opportunity to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN regarding the Facebook/Instagram deal. In the brief interview, I explain how things have changed since Facebook’s IPO and what, if anything, that meant for the deal’s fairness review with the California Department of Corporations.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Video Interview: Discussing the Facebook-Instagram Deal’s Fairness Review with LXBN TV

Following up on my post on the subject, I had the opportunity to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN regarding the Facebook/Instagram deal. In the brief interview, I explain how things have changed since Facebook’s IPO and what, if anything, that meant for the deal’s fairness review with the California Department of Corporations.
Is Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram fair to Instagram shareholders?


We previously blogged about the potential liability for Facebook, Inc. directors if the company paid too much for the social media start-up company Instagram. Recall that in April, Facebook agreed to acquire Instagram for, at the time, approximately $1 billion with the consideration payable 30% in cash and 70% in Facebook common stock (now, due to the decrease in Facebook’s share price from the stipulated price of $30 per share, the deal is only worth about $650 million). A recent NY Times Deal Book article points out that if the deal fixed the total purchase price rather than the number of shares to be issued, Instagram would have gotten a much better deal due to the depressed Facebook share price. Given the declining share price of Facebook stock, is Facebook’s reduced consideration still fair to Instagram’s shareholders? This is exactly the question that will be determined by the California Department of Corporations which will be conducting a fairness review of the acquisition this Wednesday.
The purpose of this fairness hearing is to allow Facebook to take advantage of a lesser-known exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933 known as the “3(a)(10) exemption.” Because Facebook is issuing securities in connection with the Instagram acquisition, the 23 million shares to be issued are required to either be registered or they must be exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The 3(a)(10) exemption allows companies to issue securities in an exchange transaction without registration provided that either a court or designated state agency finds that the transaction is fair to the recipients of the new securities. This exemption was popular during the tech boom and has both advantages and disadvantages when compared with the most common exemption provided by Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act.
Most smaller companies tend to offer and sell securities on an exempt basis because of the substantial costs of conducting a registered offering. There are a laundry list of exemptions but only a few are of much practical use. Most exempt offerings are structured to take advantage
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