Facebook IPO Expected Q1 of 2012

Announced today on CNBC, Facebook will likely have their much anticipated IPO during the first quarter of 2012. Although a price per share has not been discussed (as that is over a year away) the company is projected to be valued at over $100 billion.

As required by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), any private business that has more than 500 private investors must disclose financial information. That will most likely cause the release of this information as Facebook is expected to have over 500 private investors by the end of 2011. Investors will have little time to evaluate the financials before they go public. (Although we don’t need much time to do our due diligence to know Facebook is an investors dream).

We all saw the demand for the social media IPO when LinkedIn (LNKD: NYSE) went public last month. Opening at $45 per share, they quickly rose well over $100, most likely due to the craze in social media IPO’s. (One can only imagine where Facebook opens and where they sky rocket to within the first day of trading).

Ken Wisnefski, founder and CEO of WebiMax, discussed in an official company press release last month the status of social media IPOs.

Regarding Facebook, Wisnefski stated “Additionally, Facebook has value to clients in the business to consumer space but misses the mark with clients in the business to business space, which has been a huge source of revenue for Google. Privacy concerns aside, Facebook is poised to be the biggest IPO since Google, however the growth will slow down at some point, but more opportunities for monetization will occur. I think one can clearly expect that Facebook will far exceed the rampant explosion that LinkedIn has recently seen”.