Reports: Facebook to list with Nasdaq

April 7, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK

Facebook will list its shares with Nasdaq, according to media reports.

That would be a big win for the Nasdaq, which competes fiercely with NYSE Euronext Inc., especially for an initial public offering as large as Facebook’s, pegged at $5 billion.

The New York Times and CNBC cited anonymous sources on the potential listing.

Calls to Facebook and Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc. were not returned immediately Friday.

Part of the reason the Nasdaq is considered the more-attractive option for Facebook is because of the Internet heavyweights already listed there, which include Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

NYSE snared LinkedIn Corp.’s IPO last year. The professional-networking site doubled its IPO price in its first day of trading in May 2011 to give it a market value of nearly $9 billion. It was the largest for any Internet company since Google had its IPO in 2004.

Facebook Inc. is in another economic sphere. In papers filed in early February, it was disclosed that Facebook’s IPO could place the value of the Menlo, Park, Calif. company at $100 billion. That would make it one of the world’s most valuable companies eight years after it began as a dorm-room startup at Harvard University.

FAA investigates after request ignored

DENVER

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after an air-traffic controller was accused of ignoring a request for an emergency landing in Denver after a commercial- airline pilot reported smoke in the cabin.

The controller thought it was a prank and dismissed the emergency call, according to recordings obtained by KUSA-TV .

The United Express plane from Peoria, Ill., was evacuated Tuesday after landing at Denver International Airport. An FAA report said firefighters extinguished a fire in the instrument panel. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Controllers apparently realized the mistake when the pilot made another emergency call saying the plane already had landed and was evacuating on the runway. It was only then that firetrucks responded.

One of the 21 passengers was taken to the hospital. The name of the patient and condition were not available.

Consumers borrow more for cars, school

WASHINGTON

Americans took out more loans to buy cars and attend school in February but used their credit cards less frequently for the second-straight month.

The Federal Reserve said Friday that consumers increased borrowing by $8.7 billion, the sixth- straight monthly increase.

The jump in borrowing was driven by an $11 billion increase in the category that mostly measures demand for auto and student loans. Borrowing on credit cards fell $2 billion after a $3 billion decline in January.

Associated Press