In the eight year journey, Facebook’s biggest leap probably is filing the preliminary prospectus for Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company is anticipating raising a total of $5 billion and if they are successful in doing so they’d be listed as the biggest tech IPOs of all time.
Let us look at Facebook’s advertising history before fathoming how filing an IPO would help the social media nabob (newab) help the colossal Facebook grow further.
Facebook thus has burgeoned at a constant pace, since the time of its inception with minor speed bumps on its way. The number of facebook users have grown from one million in 2004 to more than 500 million in 2011, as a result of which facebook makes $3.71 billion in a year. A major chunk of this revenue comes from advertising on facebook, something that Mark Zuckerberg shied away from for a long-long time.
IPO is just a better form of advertising for facebook. IPO will also help the world see the manpower behind facebook; its working, Zuckerberg’s vision of the company and the like. What was most interesting was Zuckerberg’s vision of Facebook. In his letter to the stakeholders, he mentions that through the medium of social networking, facebook is off to achieve a bigger social mission.
Well no matter what the mission, people are not only dying to be on facebook but also to be able to invest in it. Facebook is anticipating raising $5 billion by going public but the market predicts that facebook’s IPO can exceed a whooping $100 billion in the first quarter of 2012 itself!
Times seemed to have changed and so has Zuckerberg’s vision. He was never too keep on IPO, collaborations or making the company public as he always believed that he and his team could be more successful on their own rejecting Yahoo’s $1.6 billion offer back in 2008.
Facebook and Zuckerberg seemed to have moved on and for good. Now one shall not only be on facebook but behind it as well!
Himanshi Chaudhary
