Eyebrows were raised in 2004 when Google’s $23 billion valuation raised an IPO of $1.9 billion. Eight years on, a new record is in the offing. Facebook, the social networking giant is jumping in the ring of stock markets with a $10 billion IPO. Morgan Stanley group is tipped to lead the deal.
Dealogic reports that the IPO is ranked fourth in the history of IPOs in the US. It trails behind biggies – Visa Inc., General Motors Co. and AT&T Wireless.
Facebook is currently valued around $75 billion and $100 billion. In terms of growth, it is one of the fastest. It all started at a Harvard dorm room in 2004, and the company boasts of 800 million registered members.
The company is planning to launch the IPO sometime between April and June.
James Skinner of the McDonald’s fame once addressed a group of MBA students that the business they are in is real estate and not burgers. They started in 1948, buying land all across the world, and today they are valued around $100 billion – same as Facebook – whose valuation is made up from the virtual world alone. What an irony that virtual world has overtaken the physical one from all aspects.
