Facebook's Profits Soaring, Could Be Heading Towards a $100-Billion Valuation

Facebook's valuation has been raising eyebrows ever since Microsoft invested at, what seemed then, a huge valuation of $15 billion. That was four years ago, the latest reports indicate that Facebook may be worth $100 billion by the time it finally goes public, at least in the eyes of its investors.

This may happen especially since revenue numbers, which aren't disclosed publicly, are now expected to exceed earlier estimates, when Facebook was worth a measly $50 billion.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook is expected earn $2 billion in profits this year, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda), according to people with access to Facebook's most recent financial data.

These people claim that the company is growing even faster than predicted at the start of the year, but by how much wasn't revealed.

Considering that some earlier numbers showed that Facebook was on track to bring in $2 billion in revenue for 2011, the new estimates are quite optimistic.

Some of the latest rumors, from late January, said Facebook was expected to make $4 billion in revenue this year.

Facebook made a big splash a few months ago when it revealed a massive funding round of $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies, at a valuation of $50 billion.

This raised even more interest in Facebook shares traded on the secondary markets, since the company has not gone public people can't just invest directly in Facebook, and prices hovered around the $70 billion valuation.

Now it seems even that number may be underestimating Facebook's value. Of course, it may as well be that he company really is over-valuated and that investors are lured in by the prospects of a big pay day when the company goes public, sometime about a year from now.

But the public stock markets are another ball game altogether and it remains to be seen if Facebook is able to raise the same kind of interest from regular investors, especially since it will then have to reveal financial aspects about the company.