Facebook prices secondary stock offering at $55.05

This Tuesday, July 16, 2013, file photo, shows a sign at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 said it plans to offer 70 million shares of its Class A stock in a sale that includes more than 41 million shares from chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who also will buy Class B shares that carry more voting weight. AP

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has priced a secondary offering of its stock at $55.05 a share in a deal that will generate a $2.3 billion windfall for CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The terms announced Friday are just slightly below the $55.12 closing price of Facebook’s stock Friday. The stock has climbed well above the $38 price set in Facebook’s initial public offering 19 months ago.

This time around a total of 70 million Facebook shares are being sold.

Of those, Zuckerberg is selling more than 41 million shares, primarily to cover taxes due to exercising his option to buy 60 million Facebook shares that carry more voting power. He will remain Facebook’s controlling stockholder after the sale.

Facebook is selling 27 million shares. Company board member Marc Andreessen is selling 1.6 million shares.

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