Facebook got a huge injection of capital at very favourable rates which was good for all holders prior to the IPO. I understand that it might be disappointing to see your stock go from $38 to $15 over the lockup period, but my point is that it was never worth $38 in the first place, so by getting new buyers to pay $38 for a $15 stock, the current owners increase the real value of their own stake for free.

I will agree, however, that the biggest winner is and probably always will be the investment bank. Well . . . sometimes the bank loses, but not very often if they do their job right.