Cloud Computing: Facebook to File for Massive IPO according to WSJ
January 28, 2012
Facebook will put in its papers to IPO next week, according to the Wall Street Journal Friday, maybe by Wednesday February 1. Apparently the timing is still a bit up in the air but it’s in the works.
The offering, looking to raise $10 billion, is supposed to value the company at somewhere between $75 billion and $100 billion.
Britain’s Telegraph said PrivCo claimed Thursday night that Facebook was targeting an IPO price of $38-$40 for its shares, with a target value for the company of $90 billion-$95 billion because Facebook was "reluctant to aim for the full $100 billion valuation in the hope of leaving some value for investors following the listing."…
Morgan Stanley is tipped to take the company out with Goldman Sachs, which orchestrated a sloppy $1.5 billion private placement of Facebook shares a year ago, getting a piece of the action.
Quoting unnamed sources CNBC reported that Facebook made $1.5 billion last year on operating profits of $3.8 billion.
The social networking firm basically has to go public. It already has so many shareholders it would have to start reporting like a public company this year anyway.
Google, valued at $23 billion, went public in 2004 raising $1.9 billion. It’s on record as the largest US Internet IPO still now.
Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion cash four years ago.