Facebook goes public with $10bn sharesJanuary 29, 2012 - 18:56 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook will begin the process of becoming a publicly-listed company this week, valuing the social networking site at between $75bn (£48bn) and $100bn, reports suggest. The company plans to file papers with the US financial watchdog on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. The flotation later this year would raise about $10bn, they reported. This would be one of the biggest share sales seen on Wall Street. It would dwarf the $1.9bn raised by Google when it went public in 2004. It would still, however, be some way short of the $20bn raised by carmaker General Motors in November 2010, according to BBC News. Rumours of Facebook's so-called initial public offering (IPO) have circulated for many months, and the company has maintained it will not comment on the subject. The reported valuation would make Facebook one of the world's biggest companies by market capitalisation. "Facebook a brilliant achievement, but $75-$100bn? Would make Apple look really cheap," said Rupert Murdoch on Twitter. The company was started by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students at Harvard University in 2004 and has quickly grown to become one of the world's most popular websites. It makes most of its money through advertising. As a private company, Facebook does not have to publish its accounts, but reports in January last year suggested a document sent by Goldman Sachs to its clients showed the firm made a net profit of $355m on revenues of $1.2bn in the first nine months of 2010. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Narek Manasyan wins European Boxing Championships silver for Armenia Armenia’s Narek Manasyan (92kg) won Armenia’s second silver medal at the European Boxing Championships 2024 on April 28. Blinken urges Azerbaijan to continue negotiations with Armenia Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to continue negotiations with Armenia. Pashinyan, Blinken talk Armenia-U.S. ties over the phone Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 28, Pashinyan’s office reports. Titus, Bilirakis lead legislation to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced the bipartisan legislation. |