Five big facts about the Facebook IPO

Mark Zuckerberg is finally taking his social networking behemoth public.

The Internet social network is going public in a stock offering that could value it at as much as $100 billion. Here are five big facts on Facebook's Initial Public Offering.

Washington Post: Historically speaking, if Facebook has raised that much for its initial public offering, it would:

* be the sixth-largest US IPO ever, sliding between AT&T Wireless and Kraft Foods.

* be the 15th-largest IPO in global history, behind Glencore International and ahead of Japan Tobacco.

* have an initial public offering more than six times that of Google.

Google currently holds the record for the largest technology IPO, according to Renaissance Capital, of $1.66 billion.

The Guardian: Does this mean, you should be concerned about how Facebook handles your information? Yes.

When Facebook goes public, it will be under increased scrutiny, held more accountable, and required to be more transparent.

But, at the same time, the need to maximise returns means the use of personal data is likely to increase, only raising privacy concerns.

Facebook has already been slapped on the wrist over how it treats user data. In November, the company reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which accused it of engaging in "unfair and deceptive" practices, making public information that users had supposed was private.

Forbes: It's grossly over-valued. On a price/sales basis, Facebook would trade at 19.7 — that's 497 per cent higher than Apple (APPL) at 3.3 and 294 per cent above Google's (GOOG) P/S of 5.

And assuming Facebook shares Google's net margin of 26 per cent, Facebook's P/E of 80 is far higher than Google's 19 or Apple's 12.7.

This means that Facebook's stock might not hold up after the first-day IPO pop — the same fate that greeted most of 2011's tech IPOs.

CNet: Is Zuckerberg-Page the new Jobs-Gates? Facebook's initial public offering proceedings will kick off soon.

And with that IPO will come vast riches, capital and the heft for Facebook to compete with Google.

That reality will mean that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Larry Page will have their duels throughout the years. The two execs are already dueling.

Los Angeles Times: Beyond minting an estimated 1,000 new millionaires at the company, Facebook's initial public stock offering could provide a huge boost to Wall Street investment banks sorely in need of a hot stock to excite investors.

The right to manage the IPO will also generate an estimated $250 million in fees.