Market News

Facebook valuing itself at USD 96 Billion in Share Float

Facebook the world’s most popular social-networking site, is valuing itself at as much as $96 billion in its initial public offering, the largest on record for an Internet company.

Facebook and its holders plan to sell about 337.4 million shares at $28 to $35 each That would value the company at 24 times sales in the 12 months through March 31, compared with 5 times revenue for rival Google Inc.  Facebook has amassed more than 900 million users and reported a 24-fold increase in sales over the past four years. The company was considering an IPO valuation of as high as $100 billion, people with knowledge of the matter have said. At that amount, Facebook would have a market capitalization about half as high as Google’s — even though it has one-10th the sales.