Facebook expected to file $100 Billion IPO valuation within a year

Even with traffic falling around the globe, Facebook is expected to declare a very hefty IPO valuation within the next year.

Rumors have been circulating for years about when the private corporation would finally go public. CNBC reports, based on unnamed "people familiar with the matter," that the social networking giant will file an IPO valuation of $100 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

Although, the decision might be forced upon Facebook rather than something the company has been planning on:

The company’s IPO, were it to happen by next spring, would probably be triggered by a section of the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act known as “the 500 rule,” these people say.

Essentially, the rule mandates that once a private company has more than 500 investors, it must begin releasing quarterly financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission, just as public companies do.

Facebook hasn't commented publicly on the matter, but CNBC adds that Facebook will "cross the 500-investor threshold this year."

The closest Facebook has come to an official answer was when CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked at the e-G8 conference in Paris last month about whether or not he would be taking his company public. Zuckerberg coyly responded, "Not yet."

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