Report: Facebook IPO filing could come next week

(CBS/AP) 

LOS ANGELES -- Facebook could file regulatory papers as early as Wednesday for its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock, according to a newspaper report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Friday that the social-networking company could raise as much as $10 billion in an offering that would value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion.

Either measure would dwarf the $1.67 billion raised in Google's 2004 IPO. That offering gave Google a market value of $23 billion. Google is now worth $184 billion.

Facebook's expected launch as a publicly traded company is the most hotly anticipated tech IPO in more than a decade. It would vault it into the top ranks of the largest public companies in the world, on par with the likes of McDonald's Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Visa Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, 27, is already considered a billionaire because of shares traded on a closed market.

Facebook spokesman Larry Wu said the company will not comment on IPO-related speculation.

[jschufm]

Hey! Romney! Here's your chance to make hundred of millions more, and not pay your fair share of taxes! #$%^&! We're on Social Security and paying near 24% Federal tax. The damned MN State Sales tax is nearing 7%. I'm paying $3.60 for skim milk, a 20% increase from six months ago. We got a token cost of living increase! And Romney, the SOB, makes millions doing nothing, pays less percentage taxes, and is bored, so he's running for GOP President! (Oh, I think I misspelled bored--I meant boring!) And that is the very best of the best we've got? This country finally sucks!