Darn-it! Wish I had more of these.  Many people just think of Apple Inc. when it comes to the legendary Steve Jobs but the image on the left is his printed signature as Chairman of the Board on the Pixar stock certificate.  Pixar was acquired by Disney several years ago causing many to scramble to buy the cute stock certificate before the deal was completed.  They loved it because of the Toy Story characters on the certificate but without even realizing it, the real value they got was the Steve Jobs signature.  Printed signatures make all the difference when it comes to collectible stock certificates, just ask Bob Kerstein at www.scripophily.com.

Here are a few more stock certificate signatures that can make a huge difference:

Hugh Hefner’s signature on the Playboy stock certificate.  Because the company is now private, they no longer issue stock certificates but we still have a limited quantity collectible Playboy stock certificates and they are also available at scripophily.com .

Warren Buffett’s signature on the Berkshire Hathaway stock certificate is one we can all still get but for obvious reasons, it won’t be available much longer.  Warren is 81 and just announced that he has prostate cancer. This is a keeper for the ages.

Here’s another keeper that will be available in a week or two….Mark Zuckerberg’s signature on the Facebook stock certificate. First, we are surprised that Facebook will even have paper certificates because of the movement to electronic-only registration. Apple stopped paper certificates in 2010 and Microsoft just stopped last month.  It is only a matter of time before Facebook stops.  We will be all over this one!

Another April surprise!

Effective late April, Microsoft stopped issuing paper stock certificates and will register stock ownership electronically only.  They join a growing list of companies that are eliminating paper including Apple Inc.  The whole industry is moving in that direction.  We were astonished with Facebook apparently decided to issue paper certificates.  Our guess is that it may not last long as their peers go in the other direction.

I know that this is the wave of the future but it caught us off guard before we had a chance to add to our collection of collectible paper certificates.

Anyone out their with a Microsoft certificate, especially those with Bill Gates printed signature, consider yourself lucky.

May is shaping up to be unforgettable as the Facebook IPO nears.

The last step in the IPO process is when company management presents its strategy to prospective big investors.   According to Yahoo Finance, this roadshow is expected to start on May 7th and they typically last one to two weeks so we are looking at a May 18th or even sooner.

Get more info about the Facebook IPO and buy Facebook stock at GiveAshare.com .

Just a quick update on the Facebook IPO that may be of interest to those wanting to buy one share of Facebook stock.  The expectation for the Facebook IPO has now been refined to May.  It might happen sooner but that’s unlikely.  Either way, we’ll be ready!  As we previously reported, Facebook will issue paper stock certificates and this was reaffirmed just recently.

See the expected design of the Facebook stock certificate here.  So far no word on what stock exchange Facebook will trade on so the NYSE and NASDAQ are still battling it out.

We are truly amazed by the anticipation of this IPO and based on some of the more recent IPO’s like Yelp and Annie’s, it should be exciting.

If you want to be kept informed of events as we approach the Facebook IPO, sign up here.

Canadian regulators just ok’d the sale of Green Bay Packers stock to Canadian citizens.  You better hurry, AY!As of a few days ago, there were only about 17,000 shares left for sale out of the 280,000 being sold since December.  Canadians have never been able to own Packers stock before so this is a first.  The Packers organization says they will continue selling shares through 2/29 or sooner if they sell out.

Check out our frames and mats for Green Bay Packers stock if you haven’t already.

What a relief!  It looks like Facebook will have paper stock certificates after all.  See a larger image below:  Facebook unveiled their paper stock certificate design in a recently amended IPO filing.  It’s a big deal because there was uncertainty as to whether they would even have one.  The whole industry has been moving away from paper stock certificates toward electronic registration in order to save money.  Intel was one of the first companies to stop issuing paper several years ago and many others have followed their lead – Apple being the most notable.

Stock brokers no longer issue paper stock certificates and in the rare case that they do, the charge a huge fee of $100-$500.  Half of all new IPO’s don’t issue paper.  Before bankruptcy, GM issued stock certificates but their 2010 IPO eliminated all paper.   Farmville creator Zynga had an IPO just a few months ago – no paper.  At some point in the not too distant future, no one will issue paper stock certificates.  The whole movement away from paper is having an interesting impact – it’s increasing the collectible value of st0ck certificates in circulation.   Example: Pixar certificates with Steve Jobs’ printed signature go for a whopping $595 on scripophily.net.

Anyone notice that Facebook’s stock certificate design looks very much like Apple’s old stock certificate.  There’s a good reason – they are using a form from the same transfer agent, Computershare.  The design is very ornate and loaded with anti-counterfeiting measures including coloring, fine lines, unique repeated printing, and watermarks.  But best of all, it includes the unmistakable Facebook logo but it’s in black and white.  I wanted to see some Facebook blue.

So now it seems safe to say that you will be able to buy one share of Facebook stock from GiveAshare.com AND get the authentic paper stock certificate framed.  Whew, I’ve been aching to be able to say that ever since there was a glimmer of this stock going public.

Take our poll:  Do you like Facebook’s stock certificate design?

Facebook, like most start-up businesses, is a privately held company.  This means that their shares are held by employees and/or a limited number of investors but not available to the general public.  On February 1st, Facebook made it official – they want to raise money by selling stock to the general public and have their stock traded on either the NYSE or NASDAQ.  In other words, Facebook wants to become a publicly held company enabling just about anyone to buy/sell their stock.

Companies “go public” because they can raise HUGE amounts of money ($5B in the case of Facebook) and make it easy for all shareholders, new or existing to buy and sell shares.

So why wouldn’t all companies “go public”?

First of all, a company has to satisfy both the SEC and the public that it is worthy.  Facebook started this process with their IPO filing a few weeks ago.  Secondly, being a publicly held company carries a tremendous amount of complex legal and reporting requirements that can be very expensive and burdensome.   Lots of companies have weighed the pros and cons of “going public” and have chosen to stay private including biggies like Levi Strauss, Mars (maker of M&M’s and Snickers), Ikea, and Hallmark.  In fact, some companies like Wrigley, Playboy and Burger King were once publicly held companies that recently went the other direction back to privately held.

When Facebook was weighing the pros and cons, they had something else to consider that had to have an impact on the timing of their IPO.  The number of shareholders of this privately held company was approaching the magic 500 mark.  The Securities and Exchange Act states that once a company’s assets exceed $10M AND the number of shareholders exceeds 499, it must adhere to all of those public-company filing requirements.  Well, if you have to adhere to all the requirements, you might as well reap the benefits and go public!  So the decision was made….IPO….target Q2…..lots of work to do!

Although Zuckerberg doesn’t know it,  Facebook will earn another important distinction when it becomes a publicly held company…….it will be added to GiveAshare.com’s stock list joining over 100 other world famous companies like Disney, Harley, Apple, and Starbucks.  Imagine…. making our stock list and becoming a billionaire all in the same day!

For more information, see our Facebook stock page and sign up for our notification list.

Stay tuned for more tutorials.

I coined a new word for Merriam-Webster to add that is based on one of 2012′s most talked-about events.

The word is “fipo” (pronounced FI-PO, not like hippo with an “f”).

Derived from the combination of  “Facebook” and “IPO”, here’s the definition I propose:

“A phenomenon that occurs every few years where millions of people and the media, most with absolutely no knowledge of the stock market, work themselves into a frenzy and want a piece of the action”.

The last time “fipo” happened was the dot-com bubble back in the 1990′.  A lot of novices and even pros got hurt when the bubble burst in 2000.  The lesson is that people need to keep their expectations in check and educate themselves.

We at GiveAshare.com are big proponents of financial literacy, especially for kids.  We want to take advantage of “fipo” to accomplish something good, so we will have a series of simple and short posts that will cover stock market basics as it relates to the Facebook IPO.  Stay tuned!

As mentioned in the last Facebook post, we are getting a lot of calls/emails asking if we will be adding Facebook stock to our stock list.  The answer is yes!  For more information and to get notified about any significant developments, sign up for our Facebook IPO Notification List.

We get a lot of calls and emails asking if we will offer Facebook stock when they have their IPO.  The answer is a resounding YES, Duh!  The Facebook IPO is expected to be the biggest IPO EVER and we’d be crazy not to offer their stock once they go public IF they issue paper stock certificates.  To give you a feel, the Google IPO several years ago raised about $1.7B.  The Facebook IPO is expected to be in the $10B range, over 5 times larger.
The Wall Street Journal just reported that Facebook may file for their IPO as early as next week.  This means that they are just starting the process and the actual IPO would likely occur some time in the second quarter.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the IPO:

• When exactly will it be?
• What will the IPO price be?
• Will individual investors be able to participate in the IPO or will they have to buy shares post IPO?
• Will Facebook offer paper certificates or will they only allow electronic registration?  (this is of special interest to us).

There will be all sorts of hype as the IPO approaches and we’ll be right on top of it.

If you are interested in keeping up with the IPO including information about how you might be able to buy a framed share of Facebook stock from us after the IPO (assuming they offer paper stock certificates), sign up for our  Facebook IPO updates and we’ll add you to our list.

It’s a double mat – green and gold, both white core and both archival quality to preserve your stock certificate.

See how the new mats look in our various colors of Green Bay Packer stock frames.

Note that we are taking orders now but they will start shipping in next week.

As many of you probably know, Packers stock sales were so high, the Packers added another 30,000 shares to the 250,000 share offering and extended sales through February.  Odds are that they will sell out before then.

Good luck to the Packers….the Giants looked pretty good this weekend so it should be a real battle.