Facebook expected to initiate filing process at Securities and Exchange Commission in January – Part 2

It took Groupon five months from filing to IPO, she notes, but in that case there were thorny accounting questions that the SEC required the company to work out.  Zynga’s path took about the same, while LinkedIn made it to market in a brisk three and a half months after filing its S-1.

Facebook’s financial information will certainly draw plenty of attention whenever the company files to go public, and it will also be interesting to see whether the social network opts to list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. Both exchanges have drawn listings in the space, with NYSE striking first with the LinkedIn deal before Nasdaq finished the year strong and garnered the Groupon and Zynga listings.

Then of course there will be the competition among investment bankers to lead the offering, with Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley said to be leaders in the clubhouse. While some market watchers have pondered whether Facebook might try an alternative method of distributing its shares — as Google did in 2004 — Swisher reports that Zuckerberg & Co. are likely to stick to a more traditional format.

It will also bear watching what ticker Facebook opts for, a detail that is usually not included in an initial S-1, but pops up in revised filings as the offering draws closer. FACE is taken by cosmetics company, Physicians Formula Holdings, and F is controlled by Ford Motor, while FB and BOOK are both unclaimed.

The fact however, remains that whether Facebook will be able to lure investors to the trade of its shares. So far advertisements have only been the company’s only source of income whereas the idea to charge third-party applications has hit the rocks.

In the fiscal year 2011, Facebook made a profit of a mere $4 Billion. Therefore, the financial reports of the company, prior to the filing of S-1, will be an interesting phase to witness.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Jan 17 2012. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.