Facebook’s likely $100bn listing will go to Nasdaq

Facebook will list its shares with Nasdaq, according to sources, giving the technology-focused exchange a big win over rival NYSE Euronext.

Nasdaq is believed to be favoured by the social networking site because of the internet heavyweights already listed there, including Apple, Google and Microsoft.

NYSE snared LinkedIn’s initial public offering (IPO) last year. The professional networking site doubled its IPO price in its first day of trading in May 2011 to give it a market value of nearly $9 billion (£5.7bn). It was the largest for any internet company since Google had its IPO in 2004.

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Facebook is in another economic sphere. In papers filed in early February, it was disclosed that Facebook’s IPO could place the value of the company at $100bn. That would make it one of the world’s most valuable firms eight years after it began as a start-up at Harvard University.

If Facebook can raise $5bn by selling a small percentage of its shares to the public, as is expected, it will dwarf all preceding Internet IPOs.

Joining corporate America’s elite would give Facebook financial clout as it tries to expand its global audience of about 845 million users. It also could help Facebook fend off a challenge from Google, which wants to rival Facebook with its own social networking system.

Following the model of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg set up two classes of stock that will ensure he retains control.

He will have the final say on how nearly 57 per cent of Facebook’s stock votes, according to the company’s February filing.