FACEBOOK, THE world’s most popular social networking site, is seeking as much as $11.8 billion (€8.97 billion) in its initial public offering, the largest on record for an internet company.
About 337.4 million shares are being sold at $28 to $35 each, according to a regulatory filing from Menlo Park, California-based Facebook.
That compares with the $2.92 billion IPO for German internet company T-Online International AG in 2000.
Founded in 2004 and led by chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg (27), Facebook has amassed more than 900 million users and reported a 24-fold increase in sales over the past four years. The company's popularity as a tool for staying connected online will spur demand for the stock, even as some investors steer clear of a valuation they deem too high, said Francis Gaskins, of research group IPOdesktop.com.
“Some people will buy Facebook stock no matter what – they’ll just buy it,” said Mr Gaskins, who is based in Marina Del Rey, California.
The company was considering an IPO valuation of as high as $100 billion. At that amount, Facebook would have a market capitalisation about half as high as Google’s – even though it has a tenth of the sales.
Facebook is offering 180 million of the shares, while existing owners such as Accel Partners and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million shares, according to the filing.
Mr Zuckerberg is offering 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares. The majority of his net proceeds will be used to pay taxes associated with exercising a stock option. – (Bloomberg)
