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Facebook stock falls as employee shares are freed up for trading

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Facebook got off to a poor start Wednesday, the first day of trading since restrictions on 229 million shares were lifted.

Concern that a vast number of employees would sell their shares caused the stock to fall as much as 5% early Wednesday, but the price appears to have begun to bounce back, now hovering at around $21.35, a drop of less than 3%.

The shares were restricted to prevent current and former Facebook employees from pumping more shares into the market at the time of Facebook’s initial public offering in May.

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The share lockup lifted on Oct. 29, but the super storm Sandy has kept the market closed for a few days.

Restrictions on more shares will expire before the year ends.

Facebook, which has had a rough going since turning public, saw its stock receive a boost last week after reporting its third-quarter results. Sales beat analysts’ expectations and the company saw its growth match the second quarter’s, ending a trend that slowed sales.

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