Facebook has today announced its IPO plans to become a publicly listed company. The float will make Facebook the largest tech IPO since Google.
The social media firm, which has been in business for eight years, is looking to raise £3.16 billion or US $5 billion, by selling shares in an initial public offering, according to the BBC.
Google's IPO in 2004 looked for $1.9billion.
Facebook lodged the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US. Stock usually start trading three to four months after filing with the SEC.
"Pandemonium is what I expect in terms of demand for this stock," Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at IPO Boutique, an advisory firm told AP. "I don't think Wall Street would want to anger Facebook users."
The deal could make founder Mark Zuckerberg one of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to Deutsche-Welle.
Morgan Stanley will take the lead in arranging the IPO, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan chase & Co, Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp will also help with the sale, according to Bloomberg.
In a letter by Zuckerberg filed with the IPO, he highlighted the type of business culture that shareholders would be buying into.
According to a CNN report, he wrote: "We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way. There's a hacker mantra that you'll hear a lot around Facebook offices: 'Code wins arguments.'"
The IPO has revealed Facebook's inner workings in fine detail. Here are the numbers that make up the familiar social network:
:: 845 million - the number of active users of the site
:: 483 million - the number of these social networkers who log on every day
:: 130 - the average amount of friends per user
:: 250 million - the average number of photos uploaded each day
:: 70 - the number of languages on the site
:: 350 million - the number of active users who access Facebook on a mobile device
:: 900 million - the total number of pages, groups and events on the site
:: 20 million - the number of times people install Facebook apps every day
:: 7 million - the quantity of apps and websites integrated with Facebook
:: 3,000 plus - the number of Facebook employees
:: 1 billion dollars - the profit Facebook made in 2011
:: 3.71 billion dollars - Facebook's revenue in 2011
:: 28.4% - the proportion of Facebook owned by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg
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