According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is getting closer and closer to an IPO. The company has an enviable problem on its hands: Apparently it’s making too much money and will likely earn more than $2 billion this year. Insiders with information on Facebook’s finances say that its growing faster than its own expectations, and is likely on track for a 2012 IPO. If the WSJ’s sources are correct, the news would line up with Facebook IPO rumors stemming from months back. Speculation concerning Facebook going public ramped up after Goldman Sachs began (and then fumbled) sales of company share. Shortly after, Facebook’s valuation skyrocketed – whether or not this is accurate remains up for debate. Regardless of its legitimacy, the WSJ says recent reports pin it around $70 billion.
There’s been concern that social media buzz has triggered a bubble, valuing social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Groupon far beyond their actual worth. Unlike many of the overvalued social sites, however, Facebook has access to staggering amounts of consumer information that would be priceless to advertisers.
One analyst told WSJ that Facebook could be worth as much as $112.9 billion in the public market. “Part of our bullishness for Facebook is our belief that it is still in the embryonic stages of advertising,” he said. He also mentioned that it could be in Facebook’s favor to go public sooner as criticism concerning privacy from consumers and government alike continues to mount.
Some – namely those over at Business Insider – believe that this financial information has leaked as a result of troubled Facebook share sales.
Despite IPO and financial rumors, Facebook has shown no signs of slowing down its Internet takeover. Facebook Connect has made Facebook integration a part of nearly every site and blog, and various pages cater to the social site with an Activity Feed box featuring your own Facebook friends and their interactions on the site. And of course, the recently launched Facebook Comments feature has already made a home for itself on 100,000 sites and blogs – not to mention the new Send button to continue the starts status as the go-to for private and public communication.
