
Facebook Files For $5 Billion IPO - llambda
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/01/facebook-files-for-5-billion-ipo/
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spazmaster
For me the interesting stats are the staggering numbers of engagement the
Facebook platform has. 845 million users who've used Facebook the last 30
days, 483 million users who use it _daily_ and 2.7 billion Likes and Comments
every day.

For me this is not really about Facebook's stats, but revealing how incredible
the next 10-20 years are going to be with internet facilitating this kind of
activity on one smart platform. (and it's just the start)

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arctangent
> on one smart platform

I'm hoping that the undoubtedly huge share price of Facebook after its IPO
convinces investors to invest in other similar platforms.

Facebook will make a mint (for its founders and early investors, at least) but
it can only benefit from the "first mover" advantage for so long.

I don't have anything against Facebook _per se_ , but I'd like to see much
more competition in this market. The social graph needs to move outside
Facebook's walled garden and into the public domain.

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mbesto
Isn't Myspace the first mover here?

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ryanbrunner
Myspace was a bit of a copycat site of the really early guys like Sixdegrees
and Friendster. It was certainly the first to get serious uptake though.

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martinkallstrom
If there are people who have been waiting out for a perceptively more safe bet
to make in the technology stock market, one can only assume that this is the
one they will be comfortable with betting on. Earlier filings such as those of
LinkedIn, Zynga and Groupon have seen timid responses, and perhaps rightfully
so. Facebook is far more well known and it's traction much easier to assess.

So perhaps this is the one IPO that will have taxi drivers finally going back
to discussing tech stocks again, which is the proverbial sign of the bubble
that everyone is on the outlook for.

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gggrgraham
The Hacker Way component in Mark's letter to investors has to be the most
interesting part. <http://theairspace.net/commentary/letter-mark/>

I don't think Wall St. is used to companies like this.

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sukuriant
You know. That letter made me dislike Facebook a little bit less. I'm still
averse to having an account on it, but those reasons aren't AntiFacebook,
they're anti-people that might abuse Facebook, but I don't see FB as such a
bad thing anymore.

[edit: Addendum: That said, you have posted that same link 3 times... once is
enough, there are other things to say here]

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GuiA
I remember that when Zynga IPO'd, they filed for $1 billion.

Does that mean that Facebook would consider themselves only 5 times more
valuable than Zynga? This seems like a pretty conservative stance (it feels
like Facebook is worth more than just 5 times Zynga). Is this to Facebook's
advantage?

Sorry if these questions are a bit simplistic, I have a very light grasp of
these concepts.

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phamilton
The IPO was to raise $5 billion. In other words, they are issuing new shares
of stock with a total worth of $5 billion. How this relates to the total
valuation has yet to be seen.

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Irene
Looks like hackers are not interested in buying:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3540335>

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glimcat
Good thing it's not called Hackerbook then.

That's also a rather problematic conclusion to draw due to (a) sample size,
(b) overgeneralization, and (c) the survey was framed as "will you buy"...so
maybe they just don't play stocks, or have to pay off medical bills, or what
have you.

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eliben
I would say the title of this link (and article) is misleading. Simplistically
taken, it can mean that FB aims for $5B valuation, which isn't true.

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jemka
Other discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3540158>

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j45
It will be interesting to see how much staff, if any leaves after this.

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rythie
If they do, it will be to start new companies with their new found wealth I
bet. The new PayPal mafia?

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nostromo
I think we're going to see a young angel boom next year. It'll be good for
startups and the valley in general.

