1.2.12

Facebook Exceeds Google in Internet Company IPO

Facebook Inc.'s $5 billion initial public offering would make it the biggest U.S. Internet IPO in history, surpassing the debut of its arch-rival Google Inc.

The social networking giant Facebook filed its much-anticipated IPO filing late Wednesday, setting the stage for what's expected to be the biggest public trading debut for an Internet company since 2004 when Google went public in a $1.7 billion offering.

The Facebook's IPO would also mark a high point in the rapidly growing social networking market, underscored last year by the public trading debuts of such players as LinkedIn (the professional networking site) and (Zynga Inc.) the social gaming company.

The IPO of Facebook also would rank among the top 10 biggest overall in U.S. history of U.S.-based companies. That list is led by Visa Inc., whose 2008 IPO was worth $17.9 billion, followed by General Motors in 2010 at $15.8 billion, AT&T Wireless Group in 2000 at $10.6 billion and Kraft  in 2001 at $8.7 billion, according to S&P Capital IQ.

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