Russia's VKontakte says no to IPO, for now

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: VKontakte, one of Russia's most-popular social networks, has postponed its initial public offering indefinitely after the flotation of the world's largest social network Facebook took a hammering.

"The Facebook IPO has destroyed the faith of many private investors so VK's IPO is postponed for an indefinite term," VKontakte founder Pavel Durov wrote in his Twitter page.

Durov holds 12 per cent of VKontakte and has a right to vote using the shares of Russia's Mail.ru Group, VK's largest shareholder with a 39.99 per cent stake.

Facebook floated on the NASDAQ May 18. After listing at $38 per share in a $16 billion public offering which valued the whole company at $104 billion, Facebook has taken a hammering in the markets in the days since.

Allegations about the information available to investors have prompted a US federal probe into whether specific investors received privileged information ahead of the IPO that should have been shared more widely.

A suit by shareholders claims JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs analysts alerted clients of Facebook's lower growth forecasts in the days before its IPO, New York magazine said.