Facebook has priced its initial public offering of stock at $38 per share, at the high end of its expected range.
The 421,233,615 shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on May 18, 2012, under the symbol "FB." Facebook is offering 180,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and selling stockholders are offering 241,233,615 shares of Class A common stock. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 22, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions.
In addition, Facebook and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 63,185,042 additional shares of Class A common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.
The IPO values the company at around $104 billion.
Facebook's 2011 revenue was $3.7 billion. Google, whose revenue stood at $38 billion last year, has a market capitalization of $207 billion.
Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Allen & Company LLC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities are serving as book runners for the offering. RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as active co-managers.
Although Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares, he will remain Facebook's largest shareholder. He set up two classes of Facebook stock, ensuring that he and other executives keep control.