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| pcernie wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26819971 Frankly, the 'elite' saw an opportunity for a fantastic wheeze at the cost of the public. | |
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| Quote: The privatisation of Royal Mail took place amid huge public interest and the shares rose by 38% to 455p on their first day of trading, meaning taxpayers had lost out on at least £750m in the sale. | |
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Hmm - the shares rose in value to £4.55.
Assume that the government had decided that £4.50 was the right price for a share. Firstly, there’d be a lot of “OMG, that’s steep” like comments. Secondly, I would expect shares to sell in minutes on trading day anyway, and for there to be an increase in value as those who initially bought sold to make a profit. So the price would have gone up ANYWAY, and this story would still be news because the tax payer would still have “lost out” to this increased prices.
Yes, the share sales was rushed (more likely to side step Union grumblings), but if my memory serves me, a lot of people made a lot of cash in the 1980s when British Gas and the Electricity Board were sold.
Shares go up, and in privatisation sales like this, share prices are likely to jump alarmingly in value after the the initial floatation.