I think it's one thing for the bank handling the IPO to cut revenue estimates and another thing to have to restate actual earnings because of a material weakness in your accounting practices.
Granted, this is a bit shady, but bankers are a bit shady. A company that is shady with their earnings is what would be really worrying.
It is a safe bet to group them. Given that we know that zynga constitutes 12% of their revenue, and zynga is useless - unless they charge for privacy, or other features - social networks will always simply be an ad platform and that, while still profitable, is not something eternally sustainable.
Groupon's business model was ridiculous from the beginning, and they actively engaged in attempts to manipulate their earnings numbers.
Facebook's model is fundamentally unremarkable and quite similar to a number of other profitable companies. You can question the strategy and execution, but the general model is known to work. Here questions are being presented about how forecasts were handled in the run-up to the IPO. Based on what we know/suspect, the underwriters would necessarily be implicated in any actual wrongdoing, but there is thus far little evidence to suggest Facebook made any sort of Groupon-like manipulation or coverup attempt. It can and should be investigated, but we're a long way from torches and pitchforks on Zuckerberg's front lawn.
