Facebook preparing for $100bn float

Facebook might finally be laying down the groundwork for a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), long expected to take place some time after April 2012.

According to reports yesterday, the world’s largest online social network is looking at raising as much as $10 billion (£6.4bn) in its IPO. That would value Facebook at as much as $100bn – or more than four times the market value that Google had at the time of its 2004 IPO.

Founded in a Harvard dormitory room in February 2004, Facebook has tried to hold off on a market flotation to focus on building its product rather than pleasing investors. But US reporting rules, along with early employees and investors eager to cash in on their shares, are putting it under some pressure.