Facebook readies $10-bn IPO, valuation at $100 bn

Facebook is preparing to file papers for a $10-billion initial public offering next week that would value the social networking site at up to a whopping $100 billion, The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, citing unnamed sources.

The Menlo Park, California-based social networking giant could file IPO papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as early as Wednesday but the "timing is still being discussed."

The IPO, which would be one of the largest offerings ever, and the largest by any technology or internet company, would place Facebook's market capitalisation on par with McDonald's of $101 billion, ahead of Boeing's $56 billion but behind Apple's $415 billion and Google's $186 billion.

Facebook's $100-billion valuation would be twice of what it was when it raised $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and other investors in January 2011 (See: Facebook raises $1.5 bn in new, Goldman-led funding)  

The Journal quoted its sources as saying that Facebook's IPO could raise as much as $10 billion, making it one of the largest ever, and is close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter for the stock offering.

With more than 800 million worldwide users, Facebook, founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg along with his college roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, has recently become the envy of  internet giants Google and Yahoo.