Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and leading US banks sued by shareholder

Facebook's troubles following its flotation on the stock market show no signs of ending after a shareholder issued legal proceedings against the firm, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and banks involved in taking the firm public.

According to Reuters, the shareholder filed the lawsuit attempting to sue the defendants due to revelations that they had hidden the true revenue growth forecasts from investors that would have revealed a "a severe and pronounced reduction" in growth estimates.

A lawyer for the plaintiff confirmed that the lawsuit had been filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, Reuters added.

V3 contacted Facebook for its response to the claims but it declined to comment.

The lawsuit will do little to lighten the mood at Facebook which has seen initial optimism around its flotation on the stock market disappear. Investors have not bought into the hype and its share price dropped over 10 per cent to wipe over $2bn off its initial $100bn valuation.

It also faces the possibility of a regulatory investigation after news that the revised forecasts on future earnings was passed on to certain to major clients of banking firm Morgan Stanley, warning them off the stock.

Facebook has only just ended a round of litigation with users of the site over the use of sponsored posts on the site.

The numerous headaches comes after Zuckerberg married his long-time girlfriend Priscilla Chan.