The IPO of Facebook, the giant online social networking site, has created an enormous flutter that will not die down anytime soon. Not only will it be perhaps the biggest public offer of 2012 at $5 billion compared to its rival Google’s $2 billion, but it is also labelled as a once-in-a-generation event. The company is aiming to be valued at between $75 billion and $100 billion on its day of listing on the stock exchanges. This, according to reports, would make it bigger than global household names like Amazon, Ford Motor Company, Caterpillar, etc. Even more exciting, it is expected to make millionaires and billionaires of young FB staff who own FB shares in quite the same way that Infosys created millionaires among its staff when it went public. Even Infosys drivers became millionaires at that time. There is also immense speculation about Facebook’s 27-year-old founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who is known to zealously guard his privacy. When the online giant goes public, the shy Mr Zuckerberg, who owns 28.4 per cent of the company and controls 57 per cent of the voting rights, will have to face the public, and, at the least, will have to address the curious media on matters like results. One does not know how many of Facebook’s 800 million users will subscribe to this IPO, but in India some brokers say that perhaps an Indian investor could subscribe under the $200,000 scheme.
While in India, and globally for that matter, IPOs are “all about the money, honey”, for Mr Zuckerberg the objective is different. He spelt out his lofty ideals in a letter to potential investors attached with the IPO filing. He explains that Facebook was built to “accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected”. And there is the clincher — “We don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services” — a sure dig at the rapacious greed of Wall Street. Time will tell if Wall Street, which only looks ruthlessly at the dollars that a stock brings in, has the last laugh. Interestingly, Google also had an altruistic motto, “Don’t be evil”, and it is reminded of it whenever investors feel it is acting otherwise.
Mr Zuckerberg, however, continues to be on top of the pile as FB has earned worldwide praise and loyalty for being a “revolutionary platform” used by the oppressed round the world to fight for freedom and equality, or against corruption, as in India. He will now have to balance his lofty ideals with the returns that his shareholders will expect.