Is my friend lying about his $33 Facebook fb shares?

[Broncokkl]

I've been in a hot debate with a buddy of mine and I wanted to get some additional knowledge before I slap him in the face.

So today was a big day with facebook being released. I'm sure we all watched the prices skip between $38 (IPO price) and $42.

My buddy says he got in at $33. I immediately called BS. I'm going to copy and paste his response:

"I got a call from my broker at 12:30 that the buy order was approved at $33."
I said BS.
He responds "Large firms bought the stocks in high volumes a lot lower than 38. 38 is what they are trading at to the public. My dads broker gave me 100 and my dad 900 shares at $33 and some change."

Now here is what I know..It IS possible for a firm/bank/investor to have made deals with FaceBook prior to them going public..where by when one day, FB goes public, the "firm" gets x amount of shares at $33 in exchange for a very large amount of cash today.

IF that were the case, what my friend is saying is NOT correct. On top of that, I don't care if my brother is asking for shares, I'm not selling them for less than $38.

I still don't want to call BS if it IS possible for him to have these shares at $33. So I ask you knowledgable people - What are realistic ways my friend could have bought shares at $33..

[brtegdbx55]

I think you should slap your friend in the face.

I think the stock is worth about $3.00 a share, and that's only because of the demand. People who like babbling on the site want to own the company. So I wouldn't be mad at your friend if I were you, I would feel sorry for him and his dad for buying from all the insiders dumping their shares today.

[Businessnek]

I would say your friend is lying. A lot of friends on Facebook updated their status to read that they bought so many odd shares. Just about all of them wouldn't even know how to open a brokerage account. Everyone wants to be involved and be part of Facebook, hipsters if you ask me.

$33 a share seems slap worthy. From what I read a lot of brokers did not even have it available when the buyers wanted it. Not only that but there was a lot of confusion whether or not buy and sell orders even got through for several hours. I don't think your friends dad got in line ahead of all the big wigs who just could not go without owning some Facebook.

[candyfv60]

We ended up going back and forth and he couldn't explain it. Finally I reached the conclusion that his dad most likely paid market price and then gave 100 of his 1000 shares to his son at a discount.

I texted him today that even at his great deal, the stock is below $33 now. He responded that it will be between $300 and $400 a share in a few years.