Facebook's multibillion IPO looks like it's set for late May, AllThingsDigital reports.
The report said Facebook will have to file its paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission within the month to make that happen, pointing out that any number of issues could derail--or at least postpone--the process. The SEC generally takes as long as four months to review the filing, but can take longer.
Facebook is expected to be one of the largest IPOs ever; with an estimated $100 billion valuation for the company, it's expected to raise $10 billion.
The company reportedly earned close to $4 billion in 2011 and is on track to increase its user numbers from the current 800 million to one billion this year.
Facebook 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."
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 AllThingsDigital report
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