IPO

It's the first day of Facebook trading on the stock market, and the company is valued to be over $100 billion dollars. In the spirit of all things Facebook, here are a couple of interesting facts that you may not have known about your favorite social media network:

• The company that's been valued at over $100 billion dollars was started from Mark Zuckerberg's dorm room in Harvard. Yep, that part of the movie is true.
• The original Facebook logo up until 2007 used to have a cloudy image of a man. The book The Facebook Effect has revealed the "man" to be a photo of Al Pacino that Zuckerberg's classmate Andrew McCollum edited and manipulated.
• Facebook has 901 million monthly active users, with 526 million who use Facebook at least once a day as of March, according to Facebook's fact page.
• Countries that block Facebook include China, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
• Eminem has the most popular celebrity page on Facebook with over 57 million likes, beating Rihanna and Lady Gaga.
• In 2011, Zuckerberg became a vegetarian, according to his Facebook timeline history.
• There were only two women among Facebook's first 20 employees.

Everyone's buzzing about the Facebook IPO, and after hearing about how many billionaires and millionaires the IPO will create, you might think that it's your chance to make money off this cash cow. But first, you need to educate yourself.

What's the deal about IPOs?

Facebook used to be a private company, which means its shares were not sold to the public. Once a firm goes public, it's on the stock market and it sells a part of itself to outside investors who can afford it. The term for going public is also known as an IPO or initial public offering.

Why would a company go public?

A company that sells shares to outside investors can stand to raise a lot of money. Current estimates of the Facebook IPO are at $5 billion. Companies can do a lot with the capital raised — they can use it to pay down long-term obligations, fund new opportunities, and even acquire competitors. Further, initial private investors who wish to exit can now sell their shares to public investors.

Read to find out about buying Facebook shares.

Everyone loves cupcakes, and it seems like the finance world loves them, too! Crumbs Bake Shop, the biggest cupcake chain in the US, has plans to go public, according to the New York Times. Going public a.k.a. doing an IPO or initial public offering means that everyone is allowed to buy shares of the company. As of now, Crumbs runs about 34 stores, but plans to operate about 200 stores by 2014.

I feel like cupcakes aren't just a trend, because the craze has lasted more than a handful of years ever since it was triggered by Sarah Jessica Parker biting into a cupcake on Sex and the City. I also noticed that in every city I go to, there is a never-ending source of cupcake boutiques around to satisfy my sugar cravings. Cupcakes are such a booming industry that it's no wonder investors are hungry to cash in. Other notable "sweet" stocks that are publicly trading include Sara Lee, Nestle, and Hershey. What do you think — would you be interested in buying some cupcake shares?

Source: Flickr User lamantin

Conveniently generating a ton of publicity right before its IPO (when a firm starts selling shares of its company to the public), Cebu Air pulls a promotional stunt, in which the YouTube videos of the event went viral. The airline's flight attendants turned a boring safety instruction session into something from an MTV music video (or maybe even better).

Before you start judging the sexist implications of the stunt, Cebu Air sprung out an all-male act in response to the negativity. I watched the video of the dancing male stewards, and they look a little awkward. Definitely loses a bit of the "wow" factor I saw in the hot female stewardesses. Take a look at the video below to see what I mean!

Two very interesting pieces of news from conservative St John's today that piqued our interest and have us wondering if in fact maybe they aren't so stodgy in their outlook after all. We associate St. John's with our stepmother complete with chunky heels and big pearls so the fact that they are launching a new better contemporary line for resort called SoCa that is aimed at a younger customer (mind you their version of younger is targeting 35 to 55 year olds) and will operate separately from the brand’s signature label.

Even more interesting? St. John is launching a full-fledged social network integrated with an online designer brand store. CEO Glenn McMahon is either a complete genius for this or a total moron. We don't know a lot of 45 year olds that are big on the social networks but we love the idea of letting customers get closer to a genuine luxury brand. Take note Mr. Arnault.

This Scottish lass calls fashion a blight, really she just stops short of calling it Coutorture.

Skateboard culture is still with us and they are hard on the shoes. But they would rather keep buying new ones then have a pair that can't be destroyed. What no Kevlar guys?

Prada swears its not talking to Dubai investors. Right, and that postponed IPO means nothing either.

Though there is still M&A activity in the luxury sector, if you happen to have a yacht or watch company you want to unload. But the real opportunity is building up luxury empires in markets with an emerging ruling class. Let's hear it for capitalism guys, well except for when the risks of capitalism turn us socialism. That's just lame. Can't have it both ways guys. Or can you? Don't worry, the best part about buying luxury is that it lasts. So when that portfolio tanks at least you know your Jil Sander wasn't a depreciating asset. But hey if all else fails H&M is FINALLY bringing cheap fast fashion to the Champs Elysée. Did we mention the end is near? Parce que tu fait comme tu voulez aux Champs Elysees

Given how model Yulia Kharlapanova crumpled to the floor thanks Prada's newest hit shoe it seems little surprise that mussed, fussed, and otherwise wrinkled clothing carried the show. The dueling ideals of fetishistic perfection towering on impossible heels fighting against a frumpy vision of unironed womanhood set the tone of Prada's conflicted vision of sexual womanhood in Spring 2009.

But we weren't sold on this dichomety as an original comment. It has always been the hallmark of Marni to combine these opposed views of womanhood, indeed it is one prime reason Marni is so popular with older and intellectual women, a clientele all too familiar with balancing sexual powers with wilting crumpled realities. While Miuccia Prada told Suzy Menkes that this collection was about a return to the primitive we perhaps wonder if it wasn't so far back but simply return to well worn themes of how to define womanhood.

And in the end Miuccia has many collections to produce each year and this struggle of womanhood can be reinterpreted for seasons to come. The show end with golden wrinkled cocktail frocks did seem "of the moment" as of fashion's best consumers, the finance community, watched the end of their own golden eras. Perhaps it is a good thing Prada's IPO has been delayed.