The rumor, speculation and
awkward Winklevii jokes can
end (at least for now) as
Facebook has officially filed for
its public offering. Underwritten
by Morgan Stanley and Goldman
Sachs amongst others, the
internet's most popular site
seeks to trade under the stock
symbol "FB" when it goes public
later this year. The company is
seeking to raise $5 billion,
according to this early filing,
amounting to a lofty (and still
tentative) valuation of almost
$100 billion. If that turns out to
be accurate, though, Zuck will be
one (especially) rich man: with a
nearly thirty percent share in the
company, his net worth would
balloon to almost $30 billion.
The process of going public also
provides a rare glimpse into
internal stats previously kept
private, with documents
revealing the service has 845
million active users each month
-- nearly half of which log in and
actuate 2.7 billion likes and
comments each day. The filing
also sheds light on the
company's balance sheet, with
revenues of $777 million, $1.97
billion and $3.71 billion in 2009,
2010 and 2011, respectively. All
told, it logged profits of $229
million and $606 million in those
years -- earnings that were
bested by the $1 billion it netted
in 2011. The majority of its
revenue comes from advertising,
yet a sizable chunk (12 percent)
of last year's figure comes
courtesy of Zynga. All in all, that's
enabled the company to stash
away nearly $4 billion in cash -- a
sizable nest egg for a company
only eight years old. As for Zuck,
his 2011 salary of $500,000 will
be cut to $1 as of January 2013,
but he'll be more than
comfortable, thanks to that 28.4
percent stake in the company.http://ksp2347.blogspot.com
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