Facebook gets a lift as Zuckerberg acts to steady the share price

1 - A pledge that co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg would not sell any of his shares in the next year;

2- A promise the company would not sell more stock to pay its tax bill.

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Two board members Marc Andreessen and Donald Graham, plan to sell an undisclosed amount of stock to cover tax obligations - but will hold onto their remaining shares, Facebook said.

All the "good" news drove Facebook's stock price up nearly 2 percent in late trading after it closed Tuesday at a new low of $17.73, or less than half the $38 price at which shares were sold in the IPO in May.

Zuckerberg holds 444 million Facebook shares and an option to buy another 60 million. Analysts said it wasn't entirely surprising he had no immediate plans to sell his holdings, but the announcement has reassured shareholders, who were rattled by recent stock sales by early backer Peter Thiel and co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. On Tuesday, it was revealed Moskovitz had sold another 450,000 shares over the last three days.

The looming expiration of "lockup" restrictions on about 1.2 billion shares, held by Facebook employees and other insiders, which could potentially flood the market had also been a worry.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Facebook said it would withhold about 101 million shares to cover the tax obligations for a large block of shares that were granted to employees and executives several years ago, under restrictions that barred their sale until autumn.

Facebook will instead pay the taxes with its own cash or by borrowing on existing credit lines.

"This is the equivalent of a $1.9 billion share repurchase, and should be viewed positively,"analyst Michael Pachter wrote in an email