Facebook files $5B IPO

Facebook has filed the paperwork for its highly anticipated $5 billion initial public stock offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Update 4:49 p.m. ET: Facebook has filed its IPO papers.

Update at 4:34 p.m. ET: Bloomberg cites one unidentified source as saying the company has chosen FB as its stock symbol.

Update at 4:23 p.m. ET: Obsessed with the IPO and need to know the instant it's filed? Here's the SEC link.

Update at 4:11 p.m. ET: Morgan Stanley is leading the IPO, Bloomberg reports, citing "four people with knowledge of the matter."

"This means a huge windfall for them," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for Harris Private Bank.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays and Bank of America Corp. will help.

When the money settles, Ablin said, the investment banks may generate as much as $500 million in fees.

Earlier posts by John Bacon:

Update at 2:25 p.m. ET: The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD.com site, citing "several sources," says Facebook probably won't file until after the markets close today, at the earliest. It could be pushed to Thursday, the blog says.

Update at 8:11 a.m. ET: Facebook is expected to try to raise $5 billion from the offering, International Financial Review reports. That figure is "less than anticipated but could be increased to satisfy ultimate investor demand," IFR says, citing "sources close to the deal." The filing, IFR says, "will dwarf almost any before that, including Google Inc's $2 billion IPO."

Original post: The IPO filing could answer at least three intriguing questions: Who actually owns it now, how much revenue does it actually generate and how much is it worth?

-- The Business Times notes that since Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook eight years ago, shares have been transferred to early partners and even competitors such as Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whose characters were depicted in the film The Social Network. But others also own pieces of Facebook, including "Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, PayPal founder Peter Thiel, LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman and Zynga CEO Mark Pincus," the International Business Times says.

-- Revenue is a great unknown. eMarketer, a research company, estimates Facebook's 2011 revenue was $4.27 billion, with 88% derived from advertising. What is known is that Facebook claims about 800 million members worldwide.

-- Estimates on the value of the company have varied widely, from $4 billion to $100 billion. The stock offering is expected to peg the value at between $75 billion and $100 billion, The New York Times reports. It's worth noting that the filing is the first major step in the process of selling stock. That isn't expected to happen before spring. And only a small percentage of the company will actually be up for sale.

USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.