Report: Facebook considering $10B IPO

Facebook is said to be considering filing a US$10 billion initial public offering (IPO) by the end of the year, which would raise the most funds by any tech-based IPO and value the company at more than US$100 billion, Bloomberg said.

Citing a person with knowledge of the matter, the news wire reported on Wednesday that the exact timing for the filing has not been determined as discussions are ongoing. It did state that the US$100 billion valuation would be twice as high as it was in January, when the company announced a US$1.5 billion investment from Goldman Sachs and other backers.

Lise Buyer, principal of the Class V Group, an IPO advisory firm, told Bloomberg that the IPO is far enough away that the details may change, though. "It's far too early to accurately predict where the valuation will be on deal day."

This follows news that the social networking giant had come to a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding complaints in 2009 on how it failed to protect users' privacy or disclose how their data could be used, according to another Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

The proposed 20-year agreement would require Facebook to get clear consent from users before it shares material posted under earlier, more restrictive terms, the FTC stated. This will "protect consumer choices and ensure they have full and truthful information about their data", added FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in the report.

With this settlement out of the way, Facebook has one less distraction as it moves toward its IPO, said Francis Gaskins, president of IPODesktop.com, a Web site that tracks such offerings.