Facebook's per user valuation dips below $50-mark

NEW YORK: Facebook may be continuing to gain ground in social networking space, but its per-user valuation has more than halved to $47 in less than three months since its much-hyped debut in the stock market.

As per the latest disclosure by Facebook, the social networking giant now commands a base of 955 active users -- up from about 900 million prior to its IPO in May this year.

Facebook's India user base has also grown to 59 million from 45 million during this period. However, a sharp plunge in the company's share price has led to total valuation of Facebook's India users nearly halving to $2.8 billion, from more than $5 billion at the time of IPO.

The total market valuation of the world's largest social network now stands at $45 billion, down from a value of $104 billion it commanded at its Initial Public Offer (IPO) price of $38 each. The shares are currently trading near $21 level and had dipped below $20 last week.

As per its current market value, users of Mark Zuckerburg-led Facebook would be valued at about $47 each, down from $115 each based on the company's IPO valuation.

However, if we exclude a total of 83 million users identified as 'fake' by Facebook itself, the company's current per-user valuation would go up to $51.

Facebook has said that nearly 8.7 per cent of its users are either 'duplicate' or 'false', which takes the total number of its fake users to 83 million as on June 30, 2012. On a pro-rata basis, Facebook would have over five million fake users in India.

Despite a continuing growth in its user base and its rising advertising revenue, Facebook is yet to embark on a smooth stock market journey, where it has faced numerous roadblocks like falling stock price and technical glitches right from the beginning.

Based on the company's total revenue, each of Facebook users generate more than $one dollar for the company every quarter.

The users identified as 'fake' by Facebook include the "duplicate" accounts that a user maintains in addition to his or her principal account, as also the 'false' accounts of the people.