Business Insider has just posted an amusing flow chart that will help you figure out if your friend who works (or has worked) at Facebook is about to become a millionaire. The data is reportedly based on information provided by a former Facebook employee who did his own digging into what kind of employees got how much stock, and when they got it.
Facebook is planning an initial public offering (IPO) this year, meaning the company will go public in Q1 2012, Q2 2012, or even later, depending on which rumor and sources you want to believe. The social networking giant is projected to raise $10 billion, giving it a valuation of around $100 billion. If it pulls this off, it it will create more than 1,000 new millionaires.
Facebook doesn’t need to push for an IPO because it really doesn’t need the money right now. The advantage of staying private is focus: you don’t have to worry about investor phone calls or show up at investor conferences. On the other hand, the company may be motivated to hurry up the process in order to increase employee compensation. Early in 2010, Facebook put curbs on employees’ ability to sell their company shares privately to other investors. To stop employees from quitting the social networking giant in order to monetize their shares, the company needs to go public so employees can sell their stock on the open market at various times during the year and cash in on their holdings.
If you think about it, almost all this money is coming from advertisers, and there’s more coming. That’s pretty amazing and ridiculous at the same time, but it’s really nothing new. After all, Google became huge long before Facebook was even conceived.
See also:
- Facebook’s finances leak for Q1 2011 to Q3 2011
- Facebook to double revenue to $4.27 billion, 89% is from ads
- Facebook’s revenue doubles to $1.6 billion (report)
- Facebook made $1.86 billion from your content in 2010
- Facebook: advertising rates staying constant even as inventory rises
- WSJ: Facebook growth exceeds expectations, $100 billion valuation justifiable
