Social networking company Facebook has set aside the third week of May for its initial public offering (IPO), according to news provider All Things Digital.
The expectation would therefore be for Facebook to file with the Securities & Exchanges Commission within the next month, given the usual time period given over for IPO reviews by the commission.
Facebook has now grown to the point where it can count 800 million active users, with 50% logging on at least once every day. Facebook made revenues of more than $4bn from those users, 80% of which are located outside the US, last year, mainly through advertising.
Facebook is widely expected to look to raise $10bn in the IPO – which would make it only the fourth US company to do so – from a $100bn valuation.
Facebook is expected to use the money to combat Google, which this week incorporated results from its own social network, Google+, into its main search engine, a move which may well cut into Facebook’s onsite traffic.