Facebook IPO could be filed as early as next week

GlobalPost

Facebook Inc. may file its initial public offering papers as early is this coming week, Bloomberg reported.

The world’s largest social network has left many anticipating its IPO for awhile, and will most likely be one of the biggest debuts for a US business. Only eight years old, it has attracted more than 800 million users and changed the way people across the world communicate, from organizing protests in Tahrir Square to sharing personal information with photos and status updates.

Read more at GlobalPost: Facebook to give away $6.5 million of free ads to help statr-ups and small firms

The deal could raise as much as $10 billion and give Facebook a value between $75 billion and $100 billion, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Any value below $75 billion would be lower than early expectations. According to the WSJ, Facebook is close to hiring Morgan Stanley to handle the deal, and Goldman Sachs will play a role in it as well.

While many expect the company to file this week, timing is still being discussed and could change. Facebook’s IPO would provide funds that could not only allow the company to expand, but it could fend off any internet rivals, such as Google and Twitter.

Read more at GlobalPost: Facebook IPO would give California a revenue boost: analyst

Facebook has discussed raising $10 billion in the offering, a source told Bloomberg in November. One analyst told Bloomberg they believe Facebook may even set its price at the low end of the valuation range, in order to bring on more investors and ensure its stock will rise after the IPO.

“They might discount it a little bit in order to make sure the first couple days of trading are very strong,” said Anupam Palit, an analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management LLC in New York, Bloomberg reported.

Facebook could be put in the world’s 25 largest IPOs. The IPOs of 14 companies could be higher than Facebook’s, investment adviser Renaissance Capital said, the Associated Press reported. Visa Inc.’s $17.9 billion IPO in March 2008 was the largest for any US company and the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. raised $19.3 billion in July 2010, the largest in the world.

Facebook’s spokesman Larry Wu wouldn’t comment on anything regarding the IPO, the AP reported.

Read more at GlobalPost: Does Facebook change your brain?


Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.