Facebook IPO: Not Quite $100B

With Nasdaq trading likely to begin in weeks, Facebook has revealed pricing figures: It's planning to sell shares for between $28 and $35, which would put the company's value at $77 billion to $96 billion—the highest ever for a web firm during its IPO, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company could raise up to $13.6 billion, notes the Street.

The valuation is lower than Facebook had expected, according to insiders who had put the figure at $100 billion. It's also a bit less than investors were predicting: A private-firm exchange had shares at $44. "I've been surprised before, but I'll be surprised again if it ends up pricing at that low end of that range," says an investor who bought shares on the secondary market for $31 to $32. Click for more. (More NASDAQ stories.)