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Facebook valuation after IPO filing: $94 billion

If Facebook were to go public now, it would be valued at $94 billion. Of course, that's not going to happen, since the company only filed for its initial public offering (IPO) this week.
Written by Emil Protalinski, Contributor

Remember that SharesPost auction that started before Facebook's IPO filing? The auction closed yesterday, leaving Facebook with an implied valuation of $94 billion. That's higher than any other previous valuation.

For a while now, employees and early stakeholders have been selling shares privately on SecondMarket and SharesPost. Most of these have been in the valuation range of $80 billion, although there have also been auction failures. The second market is different, but nevertheless, it still gives you a good idea if a company's valuation is decreasing or increasing.

When I first wrote about the latest SharesPost auction earlier this week, Facebook had an an implied valuation of $83.5 billion thanks to a share price of $35.50. After the IPO numbers were released though, the share price jumped to $40. Doing some basic math, this means the auction gave Facebook an implied valuation of $94.1 billion, assuming some 2.33 billion outstanding shares.

Here's the full e-mail SharesPost sent out regarding the auction:

SharesPost Financial Corporation completed its auction of 100,000 shares of the Class B Common Stock of Facebook, Inc. on February 2, 2012. A clearing price of $40.00 per share was established at the auction.

Members submitting qualifying bids at or above the clearing price will be contacted shortly with instructions on next steps for completing this transaction.

Successful auction bidders will hold an indirect interest in the shares of Facebook, Inc. through their ownership of units of an investment vehicle designated to hold the shares. The administrator of the investment vehicle, SP Investments Management, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SharesPost, Inc. SharesPost members who wish to be informed of and be eligible to participate in future auctions of private company securities must first be qualified by our affiliated broker-dealer as an accredited investor under the U.S. securities laws and regulations by SharesPost Financial Corporation, Member FINRA and SIPC. To get qualified, please click on the green button below. We look forward to serving you at SharesPost in the future.

Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) is not affiliated with SharesPost Financial Corporation or any of its affiliates. Facebook has not participated in the offering of interests in connection with the auction. This email is intended only for the SharesPost member to whom it is addressed and its contents are confidential and propriety. Redistribution of this email is prohibited.

The private placement referenced in this email communication is solely an invitation by SharesPost to view certain materials on the SharesPost website. None of SharesPost Financial Corporation or its affiliates are acting as an investment adviser of any investment vehicle, although one or more of its affiliates may, as manager, administer this investment opportunity.

None of the information displayed is a public offer to buy or sell any securities. SharesPost provides a forum for the interaction of sellers of securities to interact with buyers who have been qualified as accredited investors pursuant to U.S. securities laws and regulations by SharesPost Financial Corporation, Member FINRA and SIPC.

SharesPost does not (i) advise its users on the merits of a particular investment or transaction, (ii) assist in the negotiation, transaction or financial dealings between the parties or with the issuer, (iii) provide legal, tax, financial or transactional advisory services to its users, or (iv) participate or invest in any way or allow its employees to invest in or participate in any way in buy-sell transactions between its members. None of SharesPost Financial Corporation or its affiliates assume any liability whatsoever for any decision by a buyer or seller to invest or divest or undertake any transaction pursuant to information contained on the SharesPost website. All information and materials included in or accessible via this email are qualified by these disclaimers.

If you would like us to not send emails like this one to you in the future, please click here to begin the unsubscribe process.

© 2012 SharesPost, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

It's not the $100 billion Facebook has been projected to be worth, but it's certainly the closest we've ever seen. At this rate, Facebook is also expect to create more than 1,000 new millionaires (will your friend be one of them?). Either way, remember that we won't know what the company's valuation is until right before the offering is made, which typically occurs about three months after the company files for its IPO.

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