Nasdaq may set aside $10 million to settle probe on Facebook IPO

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc is planning to set aside $10 million in anticipation of settling a probe over its botched handling of Facebook Inc's initial public offering last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with Nasdaq internal discussions.

Nasdaq executives had been hoping for a settlement of about $5 million, the Journal said.

The move follows months of negotiations between the U.S. exchange operator and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to the paper. 

An SEC spokesman declined to comment to the newspaper account. Nasdaq and SEC officials could not be reached by Reuters for comment outside of regular U.S. business hours.

Facebook's eagerly anticipated listing on May 18, which raised $16 billion, was initially delayed by 30 minutes due to a technical glitch at Nasdaq.

The exchange then made the decision to get the stock trading by using a secondary system that ended up leading to delays in many orders and confirmations, costing some investors big losses as the stock price dropped after an initial gain.

In March, U.S. regulators approved Nasdaq's $62 million compensation plan for firms that lost money in Facebook's market debut, far less than the $500 million in estimated losses.

In April, Nasdaq slashed the 2012 annual bonus of chief executive Robert Greifeld by $542,100, citing the Facebook IPO.