Bankers toying with biz reporters covering Facebook

Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider reports that Reuters and Bloomberg News have different takes on how the Facebook initial public offering is selling — an indication that the bankers involved in the deal are playing with business journalists.

Carlson writes, “Buyers who want the price of Facebook shares to go down are telling reporters that supply is weak. Bankers selling the IPO, who want to the price to go up, are telling reporters that the thing is oversubscribed.

“You can kind of tell what’s happeneing because of the way both Bloomberg and Reuters carefully couched reporting.

“The Reuters headline is: ‘Facebook’s IPO already oversubscribed -source.’ That means: ‘one guy who should know told us.’

“The Bloomberg headline is: ‘Facebook IPO Said to Get Weaker-Than-Forecast Demand.’ That means ‘this may not be what’s actually going on, it’s just what some people SAY is going on. So don’t blame us if it isn’t true.'”