The long-anticipated wait for Facebook to take come action on its IPO--which is expected to raise $10 billion on the companies $75 billion to $100 billion valuation--could come this week.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources said the social networking company may file paperwork to get the ball rolling with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days.
The WSJ said Facebook likely would select Morgan Stanley rather than Goldman Sachs to lead the transaction.
Facebook, which has some 800 million users, has steadily moved into the online video space, and a major cash infusion would make the company an even more critical player.
In March, the social media Goliath signed a deal to partner with Warner Bros. to allow users to rent content from the studio through the Facebook site using Facebook credits. First up was The Dark Knight. At the time, Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung said Facebook "could some day be a credible threat to Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX)."
Facebook continues to experiment. It has signed deals to stream live major league baseball games during spring training, live FA soccer matches, a Miramax outlet, video-on-demand episodes of Dr. Who and Top Gear and more.
With television viewers increasingly adopting social TV, the Facebook connection could be huge.
For more:
- see this Wall Street Journal article
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