Rumors say the IPO is coming next month, but it's probably going to take more than that

Nov 19, 2011 12:31 GMT  ·  By
Facebook employees are eagerly awaiting the IPO to cash in on their stakes in the company
   Facebook employees are eagerly awaiting the IPO to cash in on their stakes in the company

It's that time of the year again. Christmas isn't here, quite yet, so that isn't it. No, it's time to speculate about the Facebook initial public offering (IPO), a past time nearly as popular as guessing about upcoming Apple products.

This time around, the rumors say that an IPO is coming very soon, perhaps next month.

That would certainly be surprising, shocking even, considering that Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has delayed the IPO as much as possible and hasn't even uttered the word to employees until very recently.

Yet one source "close to the matter" tells the Business Insider that Facebook's S1 filling with the Securities and Exchange Commission is coming very soon, perhaps next month.

Never mind that an S1 filing is not an IPO, even if the filling came in December, the IPO date would still be several months off.

Another source in the same report though says that Facebook hasn't even chosen its underwriters, the banks that will handle the entire process. And since Facebook promises to be one of the largest IPOs in history, the process is going to be a complex and presumably lengthy one. That hasn't stopped people from pushing the 'IPO coming next month' angle.

Facebook is currently valued, in secondary market transactions, at around $80 billion, €59 billion. The company raised funding early this year at a $50 billion, €37 billion valuation. Estimates say that, when Facebook does go public, it will do so at a valuation of about $100 billion, €74 billion.

Facebook has put off the IPO as much as possible, but since it will pass the 500 investors mark sometime this year, it may have had already, it has to start issuing public financial records, as per US regulations.

Most companies, when faced with this problem choose to go public, which is what Facebook will do as well. Talk of an IPO have started to grow in recent months inside Facebook, especially since Zuckerberg is, apparently, finally comfortable enough with the subject to talk about it.

This has gotten employees, many of which will become millionaires after the IPO, rather excited, understandably. This excitement may be the source of the rumors. Still, it's unlikely Facebook will move too fast. An IPO is coming, but it's probably not going to very, very soon. Spring 2012, though, looks about right.