Facebook thinking big for IPO

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Facebook Inc. is exploring an April to June initial public offering that could value the U.S. company at $100 million, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

Sources have warned that Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has not made any final decisions in an IPO offering.

"We're not going to participate in speculation about an IPO," company spokesman Larry Yu said recently.

But sources said Facebook would attempt to raise $10 billion in a stock sale that would place it among the highest IPO sales in history.

Thirteen IPOs have topped $10 billion, the largest being a $21.9 billion day for the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in October 2006.

Among U.S. companies, Visa Inc. raised $19.7 billion in 2008 and General Motors Co. raised $18.1 billion in 2010. In 2000, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. raised $10.6 billion.

Among U.S. Internet companies, Facebook is likely to top them all by a considerable margin. In 2004, Google Inc. went public and raised $1.9 billion, valuing Google at $23 billion, currently the record for U.S. Internet companies.

Facebook expects revenue to reach $3.8 billion in 2011, up from $1.86 billion in 2010, the Journal reported.