Facebook confirms $50B valuation, Disclosures by April 2012
Facebook expects to start filing public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012, it said in a press release Friday, suggesting that it could do an initial public offering around that time.
The information was in the last paragraph of the release mainly to announce Facebook has raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of approximately $50 billion.
That this was coming had been widely reported weeks ago, in items citing unidentified sources. But now Facebook itself has officially clarified and updated.
On Friday, Facebook said that Goldman Sachs (GS) had completed an oversubscribed offering to its non-U.S. clients in a fund that invested $1 billion in Facebook Class A common stock. In December, Digital Sky Technologies, Goldman Sachs and funds managed by Goldman Sachs invested $500 million in Facebook Class A common stock at the same valuation, Facebook confirmed.
“We are pleased to be able to bolster our cash position with this new financing,” said David Ebersman, Facebook CFO, in the release. “With this investment completed, we now have greater financial flexibility to explore whatever opportunities lie ahead.”
Facebook said the previously announced Goldman Sachs investment “generated a significant number of questions from interested parties.” On Jan. 5, Reuters reported the SEC was reviewing its privacy company disclosure rules in light of the Goldman Sachs investment. The SEC is also studying whether “special purpose vehicles” are being used to circumvent ownership rules, such as trading shares in private companies on private exchanges.