Details of social networking site Facebook’s finances were leaked to news provider Gawker by an insider on Thursday, revealing that Facebook has cash assets equivalent to $3.5bn.
The source has also revealed how much stock each investor in Facebook currently holds, information likely to come into play if, as expected, the company files for an initial public offering (IPO) next year.
The assets, which would have included the $1.5bn raised in January from financial services firm Goldman Sachs and the $500m invested by internet holding company Digital Sky Technologies the month before, have bolstered rumours that Facebook may be planning a spree of acquisitions before the IPO.
In addition to its sizeable assets – overall assets are pitched at $5.6bn with no debt – Facebook’s revenue for the January to September period of 2011 was $2.5bn leading to a $700m profit.
In regard to Facebook’s corporate shareholders, Digital Sky, backed by Tencent and Naspers, is the largest with 10%, while Microsoft holds 1.3%, Goldman Sachs 0.8% (Goldman Sachs partners, however, hold 3%) and marketing group Interpublic 0.5%.
The corporates are joined by venture capital firms Accel Partners (8%) and Greylock Partners (1.4%), hedge fund Clarium Capital (3%) and private equity firm Meritech Capital Partners (1.6%).
As for the IPO itself, Gawker’s source confirmed earlier reports that Facebook is seeking to raise $10bn from a $100bn valuation. If realised, this would make Facebook’s the largest IPO for an internet company in history.