Facebook announces IPO date
Social network set to raise US$5bn in highly anticipated share offering.
Facebook is set to launch its long awaited initial public offering (IPO) on 18 May, according to reports from Silicon Valley.
The social network, which has 900m users worldwide, had delayed the floatation after initially announcing its fundraising intentions last year. It is expected, however to have a valuation of around US$100bn and raise around $5bn in the share offering, the largest ever by an internet-based company.
The move comes just five months after social games developer Zynga, which supplies many of Facebook’s most popular games, launched an IPO of its own valuing the company at $9bn.
In November last year, eGaming Review exclusively revealed that Facebook was in exploratory talks with UK operators to open a real-money online gambling platform on its site, however this has since been delayed as the social network finalises the exact business model it would employ and which would convince online operators to offer their products under a workable framework. Gamesys and 888 are known to be among the first companies that would look to add real-money products on Facebook.
It was reported that the company planned to offer an initial eight ‘licences’ to eight individual operators, two from each of the four verticals, with the social network being used as a platform for the firms to integrate their apps.
Facebook currently recoups 30% of virtual currency deposits from social gaming sites including Zynga poker “ which has more than 30m users “ Double Down Casino and Bingo Blitz.
Switching to real money gambling, initially in the UK, would open up a substantial new revenue source for the site.
The IPO will be preceded by Facebook roadshows, expected to be led by company management including chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief financial officer David Ebersman, starting 7 May, according to Reuters.