Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (7)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
GM plans to stop advertising on Facebook
15 May 2012
FBI probes JPMorgan, shareholders back Dimon
|
15 May 2012
Menounos exits in "Dancing With the Stars" semifinal
15 May 2012
Greeks pull funds from banks; emergency cabinet to be named
|
4:14am EDT
Facebook boosts IPO size by 25 percent, could top $16 billion
1:14am EDT
Discussed
168
Romney apologizes for bullying incident at school
155
Germany’s Merkel dealt heavy blow in state vote
109
Weary warriors favor Obama
Watched
A look at the UK’s most beautiful face
Thu, May 10 2012
Drought blamed for fall of Mayan civilization
Tue, May 15 2012
'Mother killed kids': police
Tue, May 15 2012
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Rihanna's style
A look at the fashion and style of singer Rihanna. Slideshow
The bodies of Mexico
As the drug war rages, bodies pile up on the streets of Mexico. Slideshow
Facebook boosts IPO size by 25 percent, could top $16 billion
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
GM to drop Facebook ads due to low consumer impact
Tue, May 15 2012
Facebook increases IPO range to raise $12.1 billion
Tue, May 15 2012
S&P 500 in third straight drop, J.C. Penney off late
Tue, May 15 2012
Scared of Facebook shares? Wager on Friday's close
Tue, May 15 2012
Facebook to close IPO books two days early: source
Mon, May 14 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Counterparties: The ‘hunt for a government’ in Greece
Facebook winning Keynesian beauty contest
Related Topics
Tech »
Media »
Facebook »
A flag announcing the IPO of Facebook flies next to the American flag outside the offices of J.P. Morgan in New York City, New York May 4, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Lee Celano
By Olivia Oran and Alexei Oreskovic
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO |
Wed May 16, 2012 1:14am EDT
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will increase the size of its initial public offering by 25 percent, a source familiar with the matter said, and could raise as much as $16 billion as strong investor demand for a share of the No.1 social network trumps debate about the company's long-term potential to make money.
Those concerns over revenue growth were underscored earlier on Tuesday, when General Motors said it planned to pull out of advertising on Facebook.
Facebook, founded eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, will add about 85 million shares to its IPO, floating about 422 million shares in an offering expected on Friday, the source told Reuters, declining to be identified because the information was confidential.
The expanded size, coupled with Facebook's recently announced plans to raise the IPO price range, would make Facebook the third-largest initial share sale in U.S. history after Visa Inc and GM. Facebook declined to comment on the increased IPO size, which was first reported by CNBC on Tuesday.
The social networking company is drumming up massive demand for the offering even as slowing revenue and user growth spur questions about the long-term Facebook story.
"This is much more a spectacle, a media event and a cultural moment than it is an IPO," said Max Wolff, an analyst at GreenCrest Capital. "This is not a game of models and fundamentals at this point."
GM's announcement, while ill-timed, should not seriously hurt Facebook's IPO reception for now as it may not be representative of advertisers' overall attitude, said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group. "The demand for the IPO probably won't be affected materially by this," he said, noting, however, there were probably a lot of calls between underwriters and investors following GM's announcement.
The IPO, Silicon Valley's largest, eclipses the roughly $2 billion debut by Google Inc in 2004.
Facebook raised the target price range to $34-$38 per share in response to strong demand, from $28-$35, according to a Tuesday filing. That would value the company at $93-$104 billion, rivaling the market value of Internet powerhouses such as Amazon.com Inc, and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined.
The increased price range made it very unlikely that Facebook shares would double on their trading debut as they might have if the company had come out at the low end of its initial price range, Wolff said. He expects a first-day gain of about 10 percent.
"No rational person thought they were buying the stock for $28," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Patcher, noting Facebook had traded as high as $44 in the secondary markets in recent months.
Facebook said in its latest filing that it arrived at the higher IPO price range after one week of marketing the offering - part of a cross-country roadshow in which CEO Zuckerberg has taken the stage to lay out his vision for the company's money-making potential and its top priorities.
The price range hike, coupled with strong results from Internet and social media players Groupon Inc and China's Renren Inc, contributed to a dotcom rally on Wall Street on Tuesday. Shares of Pandora Media Inc rose 10.3 percent, Zynga Inc was up 7.7 percent, Groupon climbed 3.7 percent and Renren gained 6.4 percent.
LONG-TERM GROWTH
Before the IPO size was increased, Facebook would have raised about $12.1 billion based on the midpoint price of $36 and the 337.4 million shares on offer originally.
At this midpoint, Facebook would be valued at roughly 27 times its 2011 revenue, or 99 times earnings. Google went public at a valuation of $23 billion, or 16 times its trailing revenue and 218 times earnings. Apple Inc went public in 1980 at a valuation of 25 times its revenue and 102 times earnings.
Facebook's IPO comes as some investors worry the company has not yet figured out a way to make money from a growing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones. Meanwhile, revenue growth from Facebook's online advertising business, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue, has slowed in recent months.
With some 900 million users, it had $1 billion in net income on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011.
The company has also extended the time frame for its $1 billion acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram, projecting the deal would close this year instead of the second quarter as it previously indicated.
It provided no reasons, though a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached out to Google and Twitter as part of the agency's standard review for deals of that size.
Facebook is scheduled to price its shares on Thursday and begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. A host of Wall Street banks are underwriting the offering, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs serving as leads.
(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Edwin Chan, Maureen Bavdek, Matthew Lewis, Richard Chang, Ryan Woo and Ian Geoghegan)
Tech
Media
Facebook
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (7)
DisgustedReader wrote:
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.