Facebook’s been getting a lot of face time in the news lately, not only because it introduced its new Timeline feature but also because it announced it would be going public in late spring 2012.
Shortly before celebrating its eight-year anniversary on Feb. 4, 2012, Facebook announced its plans for an IPO. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based social networking company started preparing for that day, which is scheduled for some time in May, by halting the selling of its shares on the secondary market the first week of April. Naturally, demand for those shares increased dramatically after Facebook announced its plans for an initial public offering.
Founded in 2004 as a site for college students, Facebook has quickly grown to become the number one social networking site on the Web, a position once occupied by MySpace. At last count, Facebook had 845 million users.
In 2011, Facebook earned $3.71 billion in revenue, out of which emerged a bottom line of $1 billion. The company’s valuation is estimated at more than $100 billion, thanks in part to the announcement of an IPO.
Business strategist and technology thought leader Daniel Burrus believes that Facebook will have its work cut out for it once it finally goes public.
“For Facebook to stay the leader, it’s going to have to rapidly evolve … and in the right direction, because it’s always easier to take a wrong turn,” said Burrus in a post on SramanaMitra.com. “The key is to realize that any IPO creates new internal rules, processes and focuses for a company. But Facebook can’t let those things bog it down. With massive transformation ahead, Facebook must stay ahead of the game to remain the market leader.”
Facebook reigns supreme in the social networking world. Whether that reign lasts for another decade or another century is currently irrelevant. Everyone wants to back a winner, and those in the know are awaiting the day when they can get a piece of that billion-dollar Facebook pie.
