Facebook IPO Could Top $10B

Facebook is readying its long-anticipated initial public offering for the second quarter of next year, and it's aiming for a deal that will value the company at more than $100 billion—more than $125 for each of its 800 million users, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. The company is planning to raise some $10 billion with the stock offering, the sources say, which would make Facebook's IPO the biggest-ever for a tech company and the fourth-biggest for a US firm.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has expressed reservations about an IPO in the past, but the company will have more than 500 shareholders by the end of this year, meaning it will have to publicly disclose its financial information by April 2012 whether it goes public or not. The timing of Facebook's IPO is likely to depend on the condition of the stock market, which hasn't been kind to other recent tech IPOs, the Los Angeles Times notes. After a first-day surge earlier this month, Groupon shares have plummeted 46% over the last week. (More Facebook stories.)