Facebook is poised to fire the starting gun on a flotation that's set to value the world's biggest social networking site at up to $100bn.
The company that Mark Zuckerberg founded in his room at Harvard University in 2004 is expected to file to sell shares to the public as soon as today.
The paperwork that Facebook will file with the US financial regulators should for the first time lift the lid on the finances of a company that has amassed 800m users in under a decade, courted controversy with its privacy policies and already had an Oscar-winning film made about it.
The IPO, which could see Facebook look to raise up to $10bn, will also provide a windfall for the Wall Street banks that are advising Mr Zuckerberg and the company's other senior executives.
Morgan Stanley, which helped bring networking site LinkedIn and online video game pioneer Zynga to market last year, is expected to have a lead role alongside Goldman Sachs. Fees are likely to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Although the IPO will deliver Mr Zuckerberg a paper profit of several billion dollars, going public will also provide several challenges for a company that has been happy to reshape the way people communicate online from the relative secrecy of its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...ook-set-to-file-IPO-today-with-100bn-tag.html
Off to buy some stocks...
The company that Mark Zuckerberg founded in his room at Harvard University in 2004 is expected to file to sell shares to the public as soon as today.
The paperwork that Facebook will file with the US financial regulators should for the first time lift the lid on the finances of a company that has amassed 800m users in under a decade, courted controversy with its privacy policies and already had an Oscar-winning film made about it.
The IPO, which could see Facebook look to raise up to $10bn, will also provide a windfall for the Wall Street banks that are advising Mr Zuckerberg and the company's other senior executives.
Morgan Stanley, which helped bring networking site LinkedIn and online video game pioneer Zynga to market last year, is expected to have a lead role alongside Goldman Sachs. Fees are likely to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Although the IPO will deliver Mr Zuckerberg a paper profit of several billion dollars, going public will also provide several challenges for a company that has been happy to reshape the way people communicate online from the relative secrecy of its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...ook-set-to-file-IPO-today-with-100bn-tag.html
Off to buy some stocks...
