Social Networking, Initial Public Offering | featured news

Facebook has filed papers for what's expected to be the largest initial public offering ever to come out of Silicon Valley and one of the largest in U.S. history. Ending months of breathless speculation, the 8-year-old social networking company has submitted registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that set preliminary goal of $5 billion. Facebook had discussed raising as much as $10 billion. Final pricing will not be set for months, and the size of the IPO probably will increase with investor demand. The filing sets the stage for an IPO in May.

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.

Zynga is poised to harvest some cold hard cash in its initial public offering. Who knew that selling virtual cows and digital corn on Facebook would create a $7 billion company?

Social games maker Zynga is preparing to set a final initial public offering price on Thursday, a day before it begins trading on the stock market, in what is shaping up to be the biggest U.S. Internet IPO since Google.

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.

Facebook is targeting dates between April 2012 and June 2012 for an initial public offering of its stock. The company is exploring raising $10 billion in an IPO that could value Facebook at more than $100 billion.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus wants some of the online game company's early employees to give back stock they own ahead of the company's initial public offering of stock, according to a published report Thursday. The Wall Street Journal said that Pincus, who gave out stock freely to keep top talent early on, developed "giver's remorse."

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.

Zynga Inc filed paperwork for an initial public offering on Friday, the latest in a series of hot social media companies to seek capital in the U.S. public markets.