Facebook, Ipo | featured news

Yahoo has put the IP squeeze on Facebook, slapping it with a patent lawsuit during the quiet period in the run up to the social network's IPO.

Even with that infusion of money, California's legislative analyst says he thinks state revenue may be billions less than Gov. Brown has forecast. Facebook's eagerly anticipated Wall Street debut could pump nearly $2.5 billion into California coffers over the next five years, the state's top budget analyst said Monday.

Without the free content created by its 850 million users, Facebook would surely not be on the verge of a multibillion-dollar initial public offering.

Facebook Inc. could file papers for its initial public offering as early as this coming week, people familiar with the matter said, as anticipation mounts for what is likely to be one of the biggest debuts for a U.S. company.

Facebook looks set to file papers for its public stock offering by as soon next Wednesday, CNBC reported Friday. The highly anticipated IPO will value the world's largest social networking site at between $75 billion and $100 billion, CNBC said, citing The Wall Street Journal as the source.

The most anticipated stock market debut of 2012 is expected to value Facebook at as much as $100 billion and mint at least a thousand new millionaires.

Investors pile into Internet IPOs and start-ups, making overnight millionaires. House prices and salaries soar. Another dot-com bubble? Maybe, but with differences. As she unloaded groceries in the driveway of her Palo Alto home, Lisen Stromberg was approached by a real estate broker who asked whether she'd be willing to sell her five-bedroom house to a senior Facebook executive.

With so many investors becoming fans of the company, Facebook will be legally required to begin sharing more information about its finances and strategy by April 2012, according to documents distributed to prospective shareholders....

Most everyone in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street agrees: The eventual IPO of social-networking site Facebook could make its founder the world's richest 25-year-old. Yet CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems intent on deferring that multibillion dollar payday.