Facebook Value May Soar Over $100 Billion: IPO Rumored For Q1 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook is preparing to file for an initial public offering as early as October or November that could value the popular social networking site at more than $100 billion, financial news channel CNBC reported on Monday.

Goldman Sachs is leading the chase to manage the lucrative offering, which could come in the first quarter of 2012, CNBC said.

With more than 500 million users, Facebook is the world's most popular Internet social network and one of the most hotly-anticipated initial public offerings on Wall Street.

Facebook, whose chief operating officer last month told Reuters that an IPO was "inevitable," declined to comment on the latest report about its timing for an offering.

Anticipation about a Facebook's future plans comes at a time of heightened investor appetite for shares of fast-growing social networking companies.

Professional networking site LinkedIn Corp launched its own IPO last month, valuing the company at about $7 billion.

Earlier this month, daily deals site Groupon Inc filed to raise up to $750 million in an IPO, fueling speculation that Internet valuations have become too rich.

Founded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 by the now 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook threatens Internet companies like Google Inc and Yahoo Inc as it becomes a popular online destination for Web surfers and an important marketing channel for advertisers.

Facebook was valued at $50 billion earlier this year when Goldman Sachs invested in the company.

Recent transactions of Facebook shares on the secondary market have valued the company between $78 billion and $81 billion, according to information on the website of Sharespost, an exchange for trading shares in private companies.

Facebook is expected to generate roughly $4 billion in advertising revenue in 2011, up from $1.86 billion a year earlier, according to market research firm eMarketer.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gerald E. McCormick and Bernard Orr)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions

Comments

[cgraphix1]

09:22 AM on 06/15/2011

I didn't know that Bubbles can Burst!

[Something out of Nothing]

01:24 AM on 06/15/2011

maybe one day itll be worth 110 Billion, that would be crazy!

[KMFIX]

08:50 PM on 06/14/2011

This would make Goldman Sachs $7 billion dollars just for doing the IPO, not to mention the value of the shares they own.

Hopefully this sheds some light on why this is the valuation given.

Given that the numbers are already dropping in US and Canadian usage, this IPO better happen soon if they plan on making that $$$!

[Jill Kennedy]

04:15 PM on 06/14/2011

Look, not only is Facebook not worth $100 billion, it is well on its way to becoming worthless. The numbers just don't work. Growth is slowing, advertising is ineffective and users are getting bored.

http://mankabros.com/blogs/onmedea/2010/07/01/facebook-is-worthless/

[OSIconic]

05:00 AM on 06/15/2011

Serious, this little 'joke' of yours is not funny anymore. You keep tricking people into taking your comments seriously whilst contributing nothing to the debate.

Grow-up!

[Jill Kennedy]

04:42 PM on 06/15/2011

What about that post isn't serious? What joke are you talking about? I wrote that I think LinkedIn will be bought for $37K by Monster.com in 2014 (basically the value of the copper wire in the walls). I don't think this is a joke. I think senior management will cash out and leave that company as soon as they can. Do you think they want to run that company? They're entrepreneurs - they'll look for the next big thing.

http://mankabros.com/blogs/onmedea/2011/05/19/linkedin-acquired-by-monster-com-for-37242/

[mongpong]

07:01 AM on 06/15/2011

I replied to this comment/link of yours in a previous article stating that what you were saying was utter rubbish whilst also stating why I thought it was rubbish - basically you are just trying to write tabloid style articles which gloss over any real facts whatsoever! Yours is a very poor article devoid of any real investigation and extremely simple errors and I'm surprised with how much you try and promote it!

[Sundialsvc4]

03:28 PM on 06/14/2011

Always remember this:

Wall Street, Inc. has two products:

(1) "Transactions."

(2) "Sure things," such as IPOs and crashing stocks ... which generate (1).

Does it really matter, to Wall Street, whether Facebook's value is $100 Billion Dollars or not? No. What DOES matter to them, however, is that you (you "sophisticated investor" you ...) THINK it does.

Caveat Investor. You look a helluva lot like a sheep.

[ThePlague]

11:20 AM on 06/14/2011

Can anyone spell B-U-B-B-L-E ? Or perhaps Tulip Mania?

[goijra]

07:41 AM on 06/14/2011

4 billion in revenue does not equal 100 billion in valuation, however it is a goldmine in data mining.

[anthonyparker80]

07:13 AM on 06/14/2011

The start of the next Dot.COM boom to deplete pension funds. Facebook claims more users than there are computers in the world.

Bovine Scatology

[Sundialsvc4]

03:29 PM on 06/14/2011

shhhhh..... who wants "reality" at a time like this?

Don't forget that AOL had a successful offering by claiming that every single one of those floppy disks, and every single one of those CD-ROMs, represented "a new subscriber."

(Fortunately for the fellow who said that, Ted Turner did not succeed in killing him.)

[IMissAmerica]

07:08 AM on 06/14/2011

Suckers.

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

06:21 AM on 06/14/2011

And the countdown to Google's corporate takeover of Facebook begins now. {{-_-}}

[bkerensa]

02:36 AM on 06/14/2011

I would close my Facebook account if Google offered something better in the social realm :P

[iknowthis2]

11:34 PM on 06/13/2011

People are so quick to forget about the dot com boom. When all these online companies produce nothing, no products, no jobs. Just another MySpace waiting to happen. We all have A.D.D, so in a little while we move on to the next big thing, Remember they do not generate anything if we all stop going to their webpage.

[bluereality909]

11:03 PM on 06/13/2011

You would have to foolish to buy Facebook stock, it has nowhere to go but down. Zuckerman is going to go for the "BIG GRAB" and leave the buyers of the stock "HOLDING THE BAG" . I hope Goldman looses its "SACH"

[sunbeltvoter]

09:32 PM on 06/13/2011

I have a piece of cow manure that has more value to society and humanity than Facebork. Can I sell it for a mere billion dollars?

[JackHoffman]

12:47 AM on 06/14/2011

Only if you can 'friend' it :)

[French Toast]

07:04 PM on 06/13/2011

Sure, why not?

Anyone handling anyone else's money who buys into that should be jailed, though.

[sunbeltvoter]

09:34 PM on 06/13/2011

Everything Goldman Sucks does is a Madoff Ponzi fraud. Yet some still consider them a Too Big to Fail instead of a Need to Be In Jail. GS is the world's largest RICO organization.

[time1910]

09:44 AM on 06/14/2011

Yes they make money through manipulation not speculation.