Facebook's highly-anticipated flotation is expected to happen on May 17, according to reports.
Technology site TechCrunch cites
several sources close to the company who have revealed the target date.
Facebook declined to comment.
Facebook is expected to be valued at around $100bn when it floats – making it
the biggest ever stock market flotation by an internet company.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to clear the paperwork for
the IPO by this date - as well as approving Facebook’s recent
$1bn acquisition of photo-sharing app, Instagram.
The purchase of the app, which has 40 million users but has yet to turn a
profit, has reignited talk about a
new technology bubble forming. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s 28
year-old founder and chief, is believed to have only told the social
network’s board that he had sealed the huge deal with Instagram on the day
it was announced.
Zuckerberg’s discretion could rattle a few shareholder groups already concerned about Facebook’s governance arrangements ahead of its IPO.
Back in February, when the initial documents for the IPO were lodged, it was revealed that the young founder and chief, who created the company when he was a student at Harvard University, owns a 28.4pc stake, but has effective control under a share structure which gives him voting rights over 56.9pc of the equity.
In an echo of Rupert Murdoch's stranglehold on News Corporation, Zuckerberg's Class B shares each carry 10 votes, whereas the Class A shares being offered at IPO will have just one vote a piece.
"[The structure] provides Zuckerberg with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if he owns significantly less than a majority of the shares," the filing said.
His controlling stake means Facebook will not need to appoint a majority of independent directors or set up board committees to oversee compensation and other matters.
Zuckerberg was paid a base salary of $500,000 in 2011 and his total compensation came to $1.48m, but he will take home just $1 a year from 2013, following the example of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
In a letter accompanying the SEC filings, he claimed that, like the printing press or the television, Facebook has the power to lead a "complete transformation of many important parts of society".
"They gave more people a voice. They encouraged progress. They changed the way society was organized. They brought us closer together. Today, our society has reached another tipping point," he wrote.
He stressed Facebook's mission has more social than about making money.
"Facebook was not originally founded to be a company," he said. "Simply put: we don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services."
Some analysts believe Facebook’s valuation could come in at less than $100bn next month.
Zuckerberg’s discretion could rattle a few shareholder groups already concerned about Facebook’s governance arrangements ahead of its IPO.
Back in February, when the initial documents for the IPO were lodged, it was revealed that the young founder and chief, who created the company when he was a student at Harvard University, owns a 28.4pc stake, but has effective control under a share structure which gives him voting rights over 56.9pc of the equity.
In an echo of Rupert Murdoch's stranglehold on News Corporation, Zuckerberg's Class B shares each carry 10 votes, whereas the Class A shares being offered at IPO will have just one vote a piece.
"[The structure] provides Zuckerberg with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if he owns significantly less than a majority of the shares," the filing said.
His controlling stake means Facebook will not need to appoint a majority of independent directors or set up board committees to oversee compensation and other matters.
Zuckerberg was paid a base salary of $500,000 in 2011 and his total compensation came to $1.48m, but he will take home just $1 a year from 2013, following the example of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
In a letter accompanying the SEC filings, he claimed that, like the printing press or the television, Facebook has the power to lead a "complete transformation of many important parts of society".
"They gave more people a voice. They encouraged progress. They changed the way society was organized. They brought us closer together. Today, our society has reached another tipping point," he wrote.
He stressed Facebook's mission has more social than about making money.
"Facebook was not originally founded to be a company," he said. "Simply put: we don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services."
Some analysts believe Facebook’s valuation could come in at less than $100bn next month.
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