The social IPO of social IPOs is finally here.
In 2011, we saw some blockbuster social IPOs hit the market, including Pandora (NYSE:P), Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) and Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN). But the whole time, investors really wanted to get a piece of Facebook.
On Wednesday after the bell, their wishes came a giant step closer to being granted: Facebook filed for a $5 billion IPO. Said founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the letter accompanying the S-1 filing: “Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services. And we think this is a good way to build something. These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.”
Here’s a quick breakdown from the filing:
Symbol: FB (the stock exchange was not named).
Bankers: Morgan Stanley
(NYSE:MS), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).
Key Stats: Monthly active users (MAUs) for December came to 845 million, up 39% over the past year. About 425 million used mobile products during the month, and there were move than 100 billion friend connections. On a daily basis, users average 2.7 billion “Likes” and comments. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at age 27, owns 28.2% of the company, making him worth about $28 billion based on an estimated IPO valuation of $100 billion.
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| Revenues | $777 | $1,974 | $3,711 |
| Net Income | $229 | $606 | $1,000 |
From the S-1: A digital display of the Facebook user community and the connections between users. On a blank background, the connections form a picture that approximates a global map.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
