Popular Internet social networking company Facebook probably won’t try to go public this year, Its Chief Executive announced in an interview.
“I think what I can announce is that it’s highly unlikely that we will go public in 2008,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told CBS news program “60 Minutes” in an interview aired Sunday night on CBS news.
Zuckerberg said the company could make an initial public offering maybe later. “When going public makes sense to do, we’ll do that. Maybe that’s two years out. Maybe it’s three years out,” he said.
Microsoft Corp. paid $240 million in October for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, valuing the startup at $15 billion. The social networking firm reportedly has turned away offers to buy the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company outright, stoking speculation that it is preparing for an eventual IPO.
Bankers are expecting 2008 to present a less welcoming environment for technology-sector IPOs than 2007. A survey of 100 technology bankers by research firm 451 Group shows they expect a median of 25 IPOs this year, down from 60 in 2007.
Vanessa Arellano Doctor
Tags: 60 Minutes, Bankers, CBS, CEO, Facebook, Internet, Internet Networking, IPO, Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft Corp., MS, Online, Social Networking
