Facebook announced on Thursday afternoon that it has set the price of its initial public offering.
According to a press release, the company will sell 421,233,615 shares of its common stock at $38 per share.
Facebook will raise $16 billion, making this the largest IPO of an Internet company. Facebook's value is now $104.12 billion.
Shares will begin trading on the NASDAQ on Friday under the ticker symbol "FB."
The social network on Wednesday upped the range of the offering by 25 percent. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook set a new target of $34 to $38 per share, up from $28 to $35.
According to Reuters, Facebook's IPO is larger than those of computer behemoths HP and Dell, combined. Google, which began publicly trading in 2004, raised only $1.67 billion in its IPO.
Facebook's public debut is also likely to outshine that of nearly every other public company on the planet. Writes the AP, "Facebook is the third-highest valued company to ever go public, according to data from Dealogic, a financial data provider. Only the two Chinese banks have been worth more."
Many expect the stock to enjoy a strong first day of trading.
From TechCrunch:
Because Facebook priced at the higher end of its $34 to $38 price range, this suggests that there will unsurprisingly be a lot of demand tomorrow. Bankers will want to price the deal so that there’s a bit of a pop for good publicity, but Facebook won’t want to underprice the deal so much that they leave billions of dollars on the table.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify that Google raised$1.67 billion in its IPO.
Check out the slideshow (below) to see how Facebook's IPO compares to the biggest Internet IPOs of the last decade.
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Google: $1.67 Billion
Google <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/business/weak-demand-leads-google-to-lower-its-sights.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm" target="_hplink">raised $1.67 billion</a> in its August 2004 IPO, valuing the company at $23 billion. As of May 15, 2012, Google <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nasdaq/google/goog" target="_hplink">was worth $199.2 billion</a>.
Yandex: $1.3 Billion
The Russian search engine and web company <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/yandex-ipo-russia-search-engine-linkedin_n_866226.html" target="_hplink">raised $1.3 billion went it went public</a> in May 2011, giving it a valuation of around $8 billion. As of May 15, 2012, it had <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nasdaq/yandex-nv/yndx" target="_hplink">a market capitalization of $37.5 billion</a>.
Shanda Games Ltd.: $1.04 Billion
Shanda Games, a Chinese online gaming company, raised $1.04 billion when it went public in Sept. 2009. That month, it had a market capitalization of $976.95 million, <a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/GAME/price#series=type:company,id:GAME,calc:price,,id:GAME,type:company,calc:market_cap&zoom=&startDate=9/25/2009&endDate=11/30/2011&format=real&recessions=false" target="_hplink">according to data from YCharts</a>.
As of May 15, 2012, the company <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nasdaq/shanda-games-limited/game" target="_hplink">had a market capitalization of $1.3 billion</a>.
Zynga: $1 Billion
Social gaming company Zynga raised $1 billion in its IPO in December, 2011, then the biggest web-related IPO since Google, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/znga-ipo-nasdaq_n_1153518.html?ref=technology" target="_hplink">according to the Associated Press</a>.
Zynga had a valuation of $7 billion before it began trading on the Nasdaq on December 16. As of May 15, 2012, the company <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:ZNGA" target="_hplink">had a market capitalization of $6.31 billion</a>.
Giant Interactive Group Inc.: $887 million
Giant Interactive Group, a Chinese online gaming company, raised $887 million when it went public in October 2007. In December of that year, the company had a market capitalization of $3.358 billion, <a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/GA/price#series=type:company,id:GA,calc:price,,id:GA,type:company,calc:market_cap&zoom=10&startDate=&endDate=&format=real&recessions=false" target="_hplink">according to data from YCharts</a>.
As of May 15, 2012, the company <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nyse/giant-interactive-group/ga" target="_hplink">was valued at $1.2 billion</a>.
RenRen: $743 Million
RenRen, the Chinese social networking site, raised $743 million in its IPO in May 2011, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/us-renren-ipo-idUSTRE7433HI20110504" target="_hplink">according to Reuters</a>.
At the end of its first day of trading, the company had a market value of $7.4 billion.
As of May 15, 2012, RenRen's <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RENN" target="_hplink">market capitalization stood at $2.3 billion</a>.
Groupon: $700 Million
The daily deals site <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/groupon-ipo-biggest-since-google_n_1075374.html" target="_hplink">raised $700 million in its IPO</a> in November 2011, valuing the company at nearly $13 billion.
As of May 15, 2012, Groupon's value was $7.85 billion.
Vonage: $531 million
Vonage, the VoIP company, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/46209095/The_10_Biggest_Internet_IPOs?slide=6" target="_hplink">raised $531 million when it went public</a> in May 2006, CNBC reports. The next month, it had a market capitalization of $1.338 billion, <a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/VG/price#series=type:company,id:VG,calc:price,,id:VG,type:company,calc:market_cap&zoom=&startDate=5/24/2006&endDate=5/16/2012&format=real&recessions=false" target="_hplink">according to data from YCharts</a>.
As of May 16, 2012, Vonage <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nyse/vonage-holdings-corp/vg" target="_hplink">had a value of $387.1 million</a>.
Orbitz Worldwide Inc.: $510 Million
Orbitz, the online travel company, raised $510 million when it went public in July 2007. As of May 15, 2012, the company <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:OWW" target="_hplink">had a market capitalization of $393.05 million</a>.
Flip through some early reactions from tweeters after Facebook announced its IPO pricing.
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Susan Orlean
Tim Bradshaw
Peter Lauria
Cliff Hagen
Ken Fisher
Rafat Ali
Joseph Weisenthal
Henry Blodget
Eddy Elfenbein
Joshua Green
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Posted: 05/17/2012 4:17 pm Updated: 05/17/2012 6:49 pm