Facebook to join Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index

Washington – Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) will join its S&P 500 stock index after the close of trading on December 20.

The move is the social media network’s rise into one of the biggest, most powerful U.S. companies.

According to Fox News, the decision follows Facebook reporting its fourth straight profitable quarter in October.

Facebook’s profit is one of the criteria that S&P uses to determine eligibility for the index.

Facebook shares rose 4.3 percent to 51.51 dollars following S&P’s announcement after regular market hours, the report said.

Facebook will also replace Williams Cos in the S&P 100 index of large U.S. companies. Williams will remain in the S&P 500, the report added.