image source: Facebook

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.

Keep an eye on your status feed-- you could own a bit of Facebook soon. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Facebook may deploy a $10 billion IPO as early as April of next year.

“Facebook is looking to raise about $10 billion and could value the company at about $100 billion. They could file-- they’re still discussing the exact timing-- they could file before the end of this year, even, for an IPO that would be, as you said, in the second quarter of next year.” .... “There’s a ton of interest among those Facebook employees at finally being able to liquidate some of their shares in the company. We know that Facebook has been preparing for this day for quite a while. They have -- inside the company -- kind of a draft prospectus already written.”

The timing might still be up in the air, but CNET says Facebook could be forced to move in the direction of an IPO.

“The social network may not have much of a choice about whether it wants to go public. A clause in the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act requires private companies to release quarterly financial data when they have 500 or more owners--a milestone Facebook was expected to pass this year.”

Facebook hasn’t confirmed any specifics dates or deadlines, but GigaOM says an IPO is a pretty safe bet-- Facebook is too big to stay private.

“That’s why … a big IPO like the one it is said to be planning is practically a given for a company that’s raised more than $2.3 billion from investors. Its price is just too high for the majority of potential acquirers out there.”

But $10 billion? School for Startups founder Doug Richard tells Bloomberg-- it’s justified.

“It’s a breathtaking valuation. Is it justified? Actually, I think it probably is. I don’t think you can easily put a number right now on the potential that Facebook has. It’s moved from being an optional part of the world to being a part of the world’s infrastructure.” ....  ”It has become a core part of everyone’s lives under a certain age, and it competes for being a leader of the industry against Google and Amazon and others.”

So what’s the downside? TechCrunch says-- going public could fundamentally change the way Facebook conducts business.

“Stockholders could hinder Facebook’s forward-thinking, fail-fast culture. They’re not locked in. They can push for immediate monetization, then cash out. They could ask for banner ads, larger sidebar ads, or worse, ads within the news feed.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, a $10 billion IPO would be the largest ever public debut for a tech company. Google holds the current record-- its 2004 IPO was a little less than $2 billion.