Facebook continues to target a late 2012 stock market listing

With all of the hype surrounding the new stock market listings of internet companies, investors continue to dream about a quick listing for Facebook who continues to dance with the public markets. But their project continues to be fixed around late 2012.

Numerous web based companies (social networks, e-commerce) have taken the step to publically list on stock markets this year to allow them to rapidly grow. They have taken the plunge with varying degrees of success, like LinkedIn, who gave hope to others that were about to take the plunge.

While companies like Zynga (social network games editor) and Groupon (Internet grouped purchases) finalised their offerings, investors continued to wait for the sectors big offering – the Facebook social network.

The hype around this activity sector leaves investors wanting to believe that the social network could also make the jump to be a publically listed company, despite the company already giving strong signs of growth.

The problem is that the social network has for a long time indicated that they wouldn’t list on the stock market before late 2012, preferring to instead reinforce their economic model and continue to recruit new users to make the service without peer.

In the web field, success can appear very quickly, and disappear just as fast as seen with the social network MySpace – once upon a time a competitor to Facebook and now just a byword.


Facebook’s strategy goes further than just a simple stock market listing
 It is therefore hardly surprising that despite investor’s pressure to list, Facebook has maintained their position that they wouldn’t list before late 2012 at the earliest, and not early next year as a lot had hoped as indicated in rumours currently circulating in the press.

According to the Financial Times, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and president of Facebook, wants to wait until at least September 2012 before starting any work on a stock market listing so as to keep his team’s focussed on current projects.

Facebook is currently not short of money to fuel their own growth, and the fact that it isn’t exposed to the stock market provides it with numerous advantages like the fact they don’t have to report their earnings to investors and their share price doesn’t suffer from the smallest rumour.

Despite this, by recording more than 500 shareholders on their books, Facebook has to start publishing their financial results by April 2012. By delaying their stock market listing, Facebook can also hope to keep their best employees on current projects at a time when companies are making extremely impressive sales pitches to poach the brightest talent from competing enterprises.