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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a hot deal handled by Wall Street. The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any. …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s richest man recognized the value of Facebook Inc three years ago when he invested in the social networking company and now stands to enjoy a payday of around $1 billion, propelling him further ahead of Russia’s oligarchs, who have largely stuck with oil and steel. Alisher Usmanov, who topped Forbes magazine’s annual list of Russia’s richest investors in April, began his career making plastic bags and built his fortune in metals and mining. He is now worth $18.1 billion, up from $2.6 billion six years ago, according to Forbes. …

(Reuters) – Comcast Corp said on Thursday it will introduce a trial for usage-based billing for its Internet subscribers in a move seen to pre-empt more complaints the cable company favors its own Web video service over rivals. Usage-based pricing would allow Comcast to charge its customers for the amount of data they use with a utility meter rather than pay a flat fee like they do today. Currently, that flat fee is priced on Internet speed and also features a 250 GB data cap each month. Comcast, the No.1 U.S. …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, one of the three lead underwriters on the Facebook Inc IPO, has increased the number of Facebook shares it will allow advisers to allocate to each client account. The firm previously set a cap of 500 shares per retail client, but e-mailed advisers late on Thursday afternoon that it had increased the limit to 5,000 shares, according to two sources familiar with the situation, who declined to be named because they are not permitted to speak to the press. …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors who managed to buy Facebook Inc shares ahead of the No. 1 social network’s initial public offering might want to think twice before “flipping” them. Brokerages can impose restrictions on participating in future IPOs for those trying to profit from market debuts. Some serial flippers could even face lifetime bans. Strong demand for the third-largest initial share sale in U.S. history has fueled anticipation of a big pop in Facebook’s stock price once it begins trading on Friday. [ID:nL1E8GH5U4] Only Visa Inc and General Motors Co had bigger IPOs. …

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc priced its initial public offering at the top of its target range to raise more than $16 billion, as strong demand, particularly from retail investors, fuels anticipation of a big pop in the stock when it begins trading Friday on the Nasdaq. Predictions of how much the stock will rise on its first day of trade vary greatly — some experts said the high IPO price and increased float could limit gains to 10 percent to 20 percent, while others said anything short of a 50 percent jump would be disappointing given the hype. …

Facebook is the hottest Internet company to hit the stock market since Google went public in 2004. The Silicon Valley companies, located seven miles apart, also happen to be locked in a bitter battle for Web surfers’ allegiance and online advertisers’ money. The duel is likely to intensify now that the IPO has provided Facebook Inc.’s social network with the means to pay for efforts to battle Google Inc.’s dominant search engine.

Hewlett-Packard is poised to eliminate as many as 30,000 jobs to compensate for dwindling demand for personal computers as more people connect to the Internet on smartphones and tablets, according to reports published Thursday.

Comcast Corp., the country’s largest Internet service provider, is going to start charging extra when customers go over a certain monthly data limit.

Shares of Chinese Internet portal Sina Corp. jumped Wednesday as the company’s first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations and advertising revenue rose.