Facebook to seek to raise US$5b in IPO: reports
2012-02-01 17:17:20
Facebook will set a target of raising $5 billion in papers to be filed on Wednesday for an initial public offering, according to reports on Tuesday.
The New York Times and International Financing Review said $5 billion is only a preliminary target for the IPO by the social networking giant and the final size could be larger.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook would seek to raise $10 billion at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion.
The Times noted that other Internet companies have raised their fund-raising targets after gauging investor demand.
Facebook is expected to file a prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday for an IPO that analysts have said would likely be the biggest financial event for the technology industry this year.
The Times, citing people briefed on the matter, said Facebook plans to file for the IPO on Wednesday but it "could still decide to delay its filing."
Both the Times and IFR said Morgan Stanley had been selected as the lead underwriter for the deal.
With a deal size of $10 billion, Facebook would slip into sixth place on the list of largest US IPOs between AT&T Wireless Group ($10.62 billion) and Kraft Foods ($8.68 billion), according to Renaissance Capital.
Even at $5 billion, it would be the largest IPO ever by a US Internet company, eclipsing that of Google in 2004 which raised $1.9 billion and valued the Web search giant at $23 billion.