Social networking giant Facebook is expected to IPO on 17 May with an expected value of US$104bn, making it the largest stock market flotation by an internet company to date.
The 17 May date is dependent on whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agrees all of the paperwork is in order, including that pertaining to Facebook’s recent US$1bn acquisition of photo-sharing app Instagram, TechCrunch reported in citing unnamed sources.
The date is also in line with what sources told All Things D, that the initial public offering would likely occur during the third week of May.
At the end of March, Facebook’s halted trading of shares on secondary markets in a necessary calming manoeuvre intended to pave the way for the necessary investor road show ahead of May’s IPO.
In its filing in February, Facebook revealed it hopes to raise US$5bn in an IPO in early May. Its SEC filing, Facebook revealed that in 2011 it achieved revenues of US$3.7bn, up from US$1.9bn a year earlier. It derived a net profit in 2011 of US$1bn, up from US$606m last year.
Facebook has total assets of US$6.3bn and liabilities of US$1.4bn.
