Facebook has put off its initial public offering until the end of next year to allow developers to come up with new products. The social networking site was expected to go public in April 2012, with speculation that it could come as early as this year, the Financial Times reports, quoting “people close to the company.”
Facebook is expected to have one of the biggest IPOs in history. In June this year, CNBC predicted that a public offering would value the company at $100 billion. In January a private investment from Goldman Sachs pegged Facebook’s value to around $50 billion.
Other Internet companies, such as discount firm Groupon and social gaming developer Zynga, have recently delayed their IPOs because of market conditions. But the FT says that Facebook’s decision to delay floatation is based on internal interests, not market turbulence. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wants to keep Facebook employees “focused on product developments rather than a pay-out,” the FT writes.
Facebook has more than 600 million users worldwide. The Guardian reports that Facebook's revenue doubled to $1.6 billion in the first half of 2011.
