FACEBOOK yesterday submitted papers to become a publicly traded company later this year, putting an end in the week of its eighth anniversary to months of heated speculation.
In a rare insight into the mind of the usually tight-lipped social network creator, celebrity geek Mark Zuckerberg included a letter in the filing.
“We often talk about inventions like the printing press and the television – by simply making communication more efficient, they led to a complete transformation of many important parts of society,” he said.
“Today, our society has reached another tipping point.”
This point, in which Facebook will debut as a public company and aim to raise at least $5bn, could value the company at $100bn and make billionaires out of its early enablers.
Mark Zuckerberg, who abandoned his Harvard degree after the success of the website he founded in his college dorm, owns 533.8m shares or 28.4 per cent of Facebook – valuing him comfortably above the $20bn mark when the company floats.
He also holds the voting rights for more than 50 per cent of the company, meaning he will keep control.
The second biggest winner will be equity firm Accel Partners, led by venture capitalist Jim Breyer, which piled $12.7m into the start-up in 2005 and owns an 11.4 per cent stake.
Other early investors – including co-founders Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz, adviser Sean Parker, Paypal founder Peter Thiel and Yuri Milner’s Digital Sky Technologies – stand to rake in the billions.
Even rockstar Bono could see his pot increase substantially due to the $120m injected into Facebook in 2010 through venture capital firm Elevation Partners, in which he is a lead investor.
Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg owns 1.9m shares, comprising 0.1 per cent of the stock.
