Facebook Inc. is considering raising about $10 billion in aninitial public offering that would value the world's largestsocial-networking site at more than $100 billion, a person withknowledge of the matter said.

The company may file for the IPO before the end of the year,said the person, who asked not to be identified because thedeliberations are private. Exact timing for the filing hasn't beendetermined, the person said.

Facebook's $100 billion valuation would be twice as high as itwas in January, when the company announced a $1.5 billioninvestment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other backers. The IPOis far enough away that the details may change, said Lise Buyer,principal of the Class V Group, an IPO advisory firm.

“It's far too early to accurately predict where the valuationwill be on deal day,” Buyer said.

At $10 billion, the offering would raise more money than anyother technology IPO, a sign Facebook expects investors to clamorfor a piece of the social-networking company. The amount woulddwarf that of the previous record holder, Infineon Technologies AG,which generated $5.23 billion in its 1999 debut. Agere Systems Inc.raised $4.14 billion in 2000, putting it second.

Facebook expects to be required by U.S. regulators to disclosefinancial results by April 30, 2012, if it doesn't go public bythen, the company said in January. Facebook decided to wait until2012 for its IPO to give Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerbergmore time to gain users and boost sales, people familiar with thematter said last year.

Facebook, which boasts more than 800 million users, also isincreasing its focus on mobile technology, aiming to take advantageof the shift to smartphones and tablets. The company expects itsnext 1 billion users to come mainly from mobile devices, ratherthan desktop computers.

Jonathan Thaw, a spokesman for Palo Alto, California-basedFacebook, declined to comment on the IPO plans.

Google Inc., one of Facebook's chief rivals in the Internetadvertising market, raised $1.67 billion in its IPO in 2004. It isnow valued at $190.4 billion.

Market 'Still Hot'

Facebook's revenue will more than double to $4.27 billion thisyear from $2 billion in 2010, research firm EMarketer Inc. said inSeptember.

At $100 billion, Facebook would be worth 23 times that projectedrevenue, signaling the company expects its faster growth rate tojustify a premium valuation over rivals. Mountain View,California-based Google trades at 6.5 times projected current-yearrevenue, Apple Inc. is worth 2.6 times sales and the multiple forMicrosoft Corp. is 2.8.

The valuation Facebook is seeking would place it between PepsiCoInc., which is worth $98.5 billion, and Verizon CommunicationsInc., at $102.6 billion. Apple is the world's most valuabletechnology company at $349.6 billion.

Facebook's valuation is currently pegged at $66.6 billion bySharesPost Inc., which handles trading of privately held companies.The Wall Street Journal reported earlier yesterday that Facebookwas considering the $10 billion IPO with a valuation of more than$100 billion. The company aims to go public between April and June,the Journal said.

Demand for technology IPOs reignited in November after a summerlull, setting the stage for Groupon Inc. and Angie's List Inc. togo public. Groupon, the largest provider of online coupons, haslost 24 percent of its value since its debut at $20 earlier thismonth.

Groupon's decline may be spurring other companies to pursue IPOsbefore they lose the chance, Schuster said.

“Groupon has lost a lot of steam and I believe bankers aresaying, 'The market is still hot so let's do it right now,'” hesaid.

Bloomberg News

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