Facebook Filing for IPO

Facebook do not need MONEY! As facebook admitted in the IPO application: facebook's cash and bank deposit are more than enough to cover their futhure development. During 2010 to 2011, facebook's free cash flow has increased from 1.9 billion to 4.7 billion dollars. Facebook has officially become the "money machine". Here comes the question: What will facebook do with another 50 billion dollar they could get from IPO?

The only predictable result of the money is more than 1000 billionaire will be created! Facebook now have more than 3000 employees and a large proportion of them possess billions of facebook stock. So all the benefit of Facebook IPO is for its shareholders.

I do not think Facebook is worth $100 billion. As many students have already mentioned, the emergence of other social media networks has increased competition for Advertising money. Individuals that are on Facebook are more than likely active on other outlets such as Twitter and YouTube. This would mean that advertisers would need to reach their target through a variety of ways, not just primarily through Facebook.  Shayndi Raice mentions that Facebook's biggest hurdle is going to be to continue to maintain the privacy of it's users while also increasing profits. This presents an issue that could drive away potential subscribers and deter them onto other social media outlets. In the end, Facebook is very powerful and has seen significant modifications over the years but is not worth $100 billion.

 

Facebook going public is a huge deal and there's a lot to weigh when considering its $100 billion value. Facebook is so much more than a social networking service that connects essentially everyone to everyone, it is a social platform as well as a business platform. Beyond the photo sharing, applications, and gaming scores, there is an economical platform in which businesses as well as individuals can create successul operations, because of the ability to connect with their audience in a personal way. In that one sense alone, I say of course Facebook is worth $100 billion dollars. Working in live music and implementing social media to our promotions and marketing schemes at work, it is hard to imagine not having Facebook to quickly get information out there knowing that by doing so it will also quickly spread to others. I would be very curious to know actual dollar amounts and ticket counts of an event that has gone on sale by eliminating Facebook as a primary means of communication. I'm sure it would be a significant loss that would cost our company, and all of the other companies that utilize this platform, billions of dollars.

Facebook is such a large part of many peoples lives in today society. News like this is huge. The question of whether Facbook is work $100 Billion is hard to answer. This is because I’ve been on Facebook for almost four years now and believe me I have gotten a lot of use out of it. For example, when I was on my study abroad to the U.K. I found a new love for Facebook because that was my main means of communication to my friends and family at home. When we talk about social media in my classes here at Michigan State usually the professor asks the class to raise their hand if they don’t have a Facebook and usually only a few or no one raises their hand. I think this all shows the importance Facebook has in our current society. So, is Facebook worth $100 Billion? I don’t know but I do know it is worth a lot and enough that people will care a lot about what happens to Facebook especially in a situation like this. 

 

I think that this will be a huge step for social media, however I do believe, like the S1 filing explains, that there are huge risks in going public.  Social media has become one of the most important dimensions of the decade.  It can be used to spread information, show people your interests, make people laugh, drive businesses, and ust about a million other things.  Like explained in the first article here, Google, although the only search business, did not make much a stir with their going public.  Even though facebook is such a HUGE part of the social scene these days, it is impossible to actually know what will happen when it goes public.  I think even though it is so important, it might not succeed for two reasons.  First, in my personal opinion, Facebook has reached it's Max.  Other than the fact that more people can join, there just doesn't seem like there is much more Facebook can do with its site.  Second, becuase of the lack of control many people in my generation had over their Facebook when they first got one, they are starting to abandon their pages for newer forms of social media that they can keep under control from the beginning.  Facebook members are now trying to find ways to hide themselves on the social media platform, which isn't a good way for the site to begin its public appearance.

Is Facebook worth $100 billion? It’s certainly not an easy question to answer. As Facebook and other social media outlets have gained increasing clout on the web, their standings in the business world have become a popular topic of debate. As Matt Rosoff mentions, this event could be a once-in-a-decade kind of occurrence that really sets the tone for social and web-based business in years to come. The social network will soon be socially owned, a risky and bold precedent for Zuckerberg et al. to set. Personally, I think that Facebook may be it’s own enemy here. By setting fire to the tinder of MySpace and igniting the online social revolution, Facebook has spawned a new wave of online innovation. Twitter, Google+ and others are becoming more prevalent, taking the attention of the user away from Facebook. And it doesn’t stop there. Young innovators continue to flood Silicon Valley in hopes of riding the wave of social media into fortune. With so many new outlets taking views away from Facebook pages, advertisers will look to spread their budgets to these other social outlets as well. And at the end of the day, the net worth of Facebook stems from its profitability through advertising. With this in mind, $100 billion seems…ambitious. Short of some groundbreaking new developments, Facebook probably isn’t worth that much.

 

 

The article from the first link states,"The importance is Facebook the platform, which allows developers to build social experiences into everything they create, regardless of the computing device that users have in front of them. Whether it's a desktop PC, laptop, smartphone, even a dumb phone, Facebook is building a platform that will let you share what you do." Facebook is important to society because it is a simple way to communicate and socilize with friends, family and colleagues. Facebook filing for an IPO is an extremely smart financial move, but I feel it will alter the way that Facebook is used and percieved. Maybe Facebook is slowly starting to transition its key users to businesses and other professionals rather than students and families. Who knows what the next big thing will be! 

 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-once-a-decade-ipo-will-kick-off-the-fourth-era-of-personal-computing-2012-1#ixzz1ldyxKTpb

 

Figuring out the worth of a company is tough business.  Firstly, Facebook's financial statements are pristine.  They are making almost $1 profit for every $3 of revenue.  These numbers are very similar to those of Google at pre-IPO.  The question is - can they sustain their growth which has been almost 40% in the last year, while revenues went up 84%.  I have my doubts about that.  The rate of people getting new internet access who did not before is not close to 40%, and if someone has internet but does not have Facebook, chances are they will not subscribe now.  All that being said, the $100 billion number is fairly arbitrary and the market will dictate whether that was the correct number of not. I believe regardless of the valuation Facebook is a great company with a bright future, one that we all live in.

Personally, it deserves that value. For Facebook, the solid support is coming from its huge number of users that has reached more than 800million.  Plus more than 200 million advertisers and hundreds of developers and partners, the effect of Facebook has been pervasive around the world. How to evaluate the market value of Facebook? I think it doesn’t only rely on the ruthless statistics or financial analysis but also the faith from people. If you have the faith that it could generate more potential value than expected, it would be worthy.  

In America, almost all enterprises put Facebook page on business card and advertisements, and on personal Facebook account people could also do anything they want such as booking, ordering, participating in activities and even logging the third-party websites to buy gifts. Besides, people could easily make their friends know what they did by clicking Facebook share button on each website. It seems that Facebook account has become secondary personal ID except driver's license number and social security number. Every time users logged in Facebook and did something, such records will instantly be transformed into interactive information and saved. Gradually, this large real database will be priceless in the capital markets. Moreover, it is an inevitable trend for internet users that alter their habits of surfing from the initial portal sites to search engine and then to social network, which will be further upgraded along with technology development. In addition, with the company’s explosive growth, the value of employees should be rewarded. If Facebook dosen’t care about the benefits of employees, it would probably have to face the problem of brain drain. I do believe that the more talents Facebook has, the greater value it could create in the future.

 

Although Facebook will kick off the social media era, I don't think it will be the only one for long. Other social media sites such as Twitter and even LinkedIn are close behind. People are now using Twitter as much as Facebook, if not more in terms of tweeting vs. updating statuses. Because Facebook has become such a part of my generation's life, Facebook can be worth $100 billion but I don't think it should be. I never have my computer open without a Facebook tab open even if I'm not interacting on it at all and that's exaclty what they count on.  I think Facebook is worth less because when you compare it to a company like Google, which has higher sales and profit, it should not be valued more than very successful sites like that. Facebook has revolutionized the internet but we'll see if it can live up to $100 billion. 

I think this is an interesting discussion topic. Will Facebook launch the social media era? Are they lacking in the potential to be a mature, global business?

I do think Facebook can launch the social media era that Matt Rosoff from Business Insider refers to, but I question the capability of the company to meet $100 billion worth.

Facebook has the potential and popularity to take over their competition and become the social media platform of choice that links and shares all other online and social media usage.  But, will Facebook be able to solve consumer privacy issues? And isn’t $100 million a little too ambitious? Facebook is at the top of the industry now, but Twitter and other sites are increasingly becoming more popular.  I think Facebook’s success or failure will stem from their capability of integrating likable aspects of different social media platforms into their own, improving the customizable privacy settings for users, and managing relevancy of advertising to the user. 

 

Has Facebook lost me as an exclusive consumer? Yes, to me Facebook has soldout, which can be seen from the dramatic changes the website has been through over the last few years. To be perfectly honest, I don't really like Facebook anymore, however I still use it. That is the key, Facebook has engrained itself so deeply into the lives of my generation that although it doesn't exactly appeal to us, with all its useless applications and advertisement overload, we still check it, use it and add to it. The site has become a part of our everday lives and for that reason it is worth $100 billion, or more, to someone that can properly harness that communication power into something productive. If for nothing else, think that you are paying just a fraction of the cost of reaching over 800 billion people.

 

 

 

I'm not certain that Facebook is worth $100billion, but it's obviously worth a substantial amount.  You can't discount the number of members and how many continue to join daily, but eventually this will slow, as the excitement subsides and the ratio of people to add diminishes.  Facebook expounded upon MySpace's idea and appealed to the younger crowds, which made it such a hot ticket item.  Then came the older generations and now many grandparents have Facebook accounts.  But while Facebook is spreading upwards in generations, it's losing steam in the younger generations, with many deleting FB accounts and looking at other options, such as Google+.  The obvious momentum produced success for Facebook, but it will be similar to Apple filing for its IPO...they will have to continue to develop their product, as there will always be competitors looking to jump in.  As Facebook was the initial social platform, the 2nd movers have been able to learn from their mistakes and not take such (possibly) costly risks.  Honestly, I think that it's quite a bold move to set the initial goal so high. 

Is Facebook worth $100 billion? Yes, without a doubt Facebook has taken over our lives, 800 million active users around the World today. Also, Facebook is still a relatively young company, it has only been around since 2004 and has shown drastic changes every year to keep up with demand and new technology. With the way Facebook allows tailored advertisements, it opens the doors for billions of dollars in profit by allowing advertisers to target certain demographics based on information a user provides on their page. Facebook is also beginning to be apart of every mobile device, making it even easier to access your page without even being in the presence of a computer. Facebook will continue to grow as long as they continue to develop changes to make socializing easier. 

 

Facebook has come a long way since 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook.com.  It has had a huge impact on social media.  Since I signed up for facebook in 2005 is has been growing and modified a lot over the years.  I think IPO is the next step for Facebook.  Facebook possibly being worth $100 billion is hard to wrap your head around.  Even though many people use it daily, I do not think it is worth $100 billion.  The highest IPO of a U.S. company was $17.9 billion by Visa.  Facebook’s goal is over $80 billion more that, and even thought it could set the record for the new highest, I don’t believe that the IPO could be that much more.  I am curious about what will happen to the company after it goes public.  Will is stay the same?  How much will it change?

As long as the population keeps their appetite for Facebook, the company has potential to satisfy many palates. They may even have enough clout to live up to that 100 billion dollar worth value. The consumer is a major success factor in the Facebook equation, because obviously without live humans wanting to share their personal space, there would be no need for a social network. Yes we are all being bought and sold in simple terms, but just think of how many elementary age children have Facebook...They won't really, truly be aware of the effects of personal information exchange until they've been putting their name and face out there for the world to see for multiple clueless years. (Facebook does have a policy that requires one to be 13 years of age to have an account. But with “parent permission” or in some cases parents creating Facebook accounts for children incapable of even standing, regulations are null and void). In some cases this might be exactly what the individual is looking for...fame by public exposure. Take Justin Bieber; discovered covering songs on YouTube a few years back, now he's a household name. Anonymity does not breed social network nor global success. The world can still only speculate at the coming effects of global personal information exchange, the reality being that social networking, the Internet and even computers just haven’t been around long enough to put a stable remark on what is to come. I believe the next generation, like so many before, will inexorably decide the future of the social network phenomenon, particularly that of Facebook.

photo cred...geekologie.com

Facebook has made a huge impact on social media. When I first made my Facebook profile I was sophomore in high school, 2006. Since then, I have over 2,500 friends and I have been able to reconnect with friends and distant relatives that, without Facebook, I probably would never have talked to again. I think that like many other social media sites, Facebook will eventually fade away and a new social media site will begin to take over. I think that Facebook is amazing site and terrific tool for advertising, yet I do not think that it is worth $100 billion dollars. As I have seen off personal experience, many of my friends have deleted their Facebook pages and have switched over to Twitter and different social media sites as their main tool of communication. Although I do think that I will continue to use this site for a long time, and I do find it very valuable and helpful, I do not think that it is worth $100 billion and it would be very hard for them to reach that large amount.

 

 

Although it is very ambitious for Mark and company to try to get $100 billion in their IPO, it is going to be virtually impossible to reach that amount. I think that we can agree that financial institutions like banks, investment firms and credit lenders are the type of public companies that make the most money. It makes sense that people want money so they will inviest in money to make money.

With that being said, the highest-ever IPO in the US was to Visa with $17.9 billion, no where near what facebook wishes to get. So far, visa has had the largest IPO in US history. So how about around the globe? in 2010, a Chinese bank filed for the world's largest IPO, $22.1 billion. That is still $80 billion off of what facebook wants to accomplish. So is the $100 billion IPO realistic? Probably not. Will  it happen? Probably not. Is it ambitious? Definitely. Maybe Facebook execs are using the Door-in-the-face technique to get as much money as possible. It might work, but I'll predict somewhere around $3 billion.

Facebook has revolutionized social networks, but I think that it will be very risky and unnecessary for them to go public. There are new social networks like Twitter and Google+ that are trying to compete with Facebook and some have been successful in captivating Facebook users. I often find myself only going on Facebook when I need to promote an event or if Twitter is down and I was once an avid user. Mark Zukerberg has managed to make billions off of his venture and the company is still popular, but I think in a couple of years Facebook will begin to die down especially if it continues to make website changes that anger users. Taking the company public probably won't be good in the long run as more social networks emerge and Facebook becomes the next MySpace. 

 

As of right now, Facebook seems to have an overwhelming lead over other types of social media. But as we've seen, Facebook has changed dramatically within the past decade and will most likely continue to change along with other types of social media. I think it would be extremely risky to sell Facebook for as much as $100 billion given it could be possible that Facebook will reach its capacity within this next decade and fizzle out. Many other types of social media are becoming more popular and this generation is always looking for the next best thing. Yes, Facebook has become a large part of our culture but given enough time, something new will come out and most likely take its place. Not only is this a bad decision for the company, but for users as well. The privacy of Facebook users will be compromised and the site will be littered with ads. It will be interesting to see ther verdict on this topic and users' responses to this change in social media. 

Certainly Facebook worth 100 billion dollars, and its value could be higher, as long as the users population does not drop.

Take Google as a comparison, Facebook and Google, they are all advertising companies, and they invented new ways to connect to users. Google is "search", Facebook is "our preferences, connections, and other free information we provided to our pages". How much do you think your personal information is worth? Maybe not worth 100 billion. But how much do you think all the Facebook's over 800 million users' personal information is worth? $12,500, they priced each of our personal information. Obviously, the substance of the deal is a betrayal to you, the users, and 800 million of your friends. After the release of the stock, our value will determine the value of this enterprise.

Picture from: http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/2011/09/28/demotivational-posters-facebook-you/

Facebook obviously has had increasing amounts of success since Mark Zuckerberg started the company in 2005. He changed the world for social media and networking. $100 billion... That number is too large and abstract for me to really grasp. But, I think it's a big risk for Facebook to go public. Because of Facebook, our society is steadily moving forward in social media. There are so many social media networks on the Internet now, and so many of them are successful and continually growing. There is plenty of time for these networks to catch up and steal users. For me personally, I have converted over to Twitter and spend a lot less time on Facebook. It will sure be interesting to see what happens in the long run—and even in the short run.

To be completely honest- when it comes to the worth of facebook, 100 billion seems just CRAZY. However, I don't know much about IPOs or its procedure.

If Mark Zuckerberg is just trying to continue the trend of having a free platform that has continued availability for all users, then I agree with the amount that is proposed. When I think of facebook as a social networking platform I try and think of it's rivals, or ones that I have used before. I once used Myspace, and as a young teen, I loved it! It was easy to share all kinds of information with family and friends; Facebook does that and more. I instantly thought of businesses, small and large, bands and fan pages- all of which use facebook. We are able to connect with them, and each other in order to share web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, updates about our family and friends, and even the latest youtube sensation. And its not just a national thing, facebook is used globally. I once was friend requested by another "Rachel Bohn," what did I do? I facebook creeped of course. When realizing that she was a girl my age, from France, currently going to school as well, I accepted. Now she practices her English with me, and she answers all of my questions about art and music. Honestly, facebook is what you want it to be; you can use it to promote your small business, keep in touch with friends and family, play games, or even just to creep. It's a tool for social networking, and you make what you want out of it.

 

Like I said earlier, if Zuckerberg wants Facebook to continue have zero cost to its users- I am on board. As for its worth? I have no idea if 100 billion is appropriate or not.

 

 

I think this has its positives and negatives. The positives being that Facebook will make more money and as long as they continue to use their money for the benefit of the site then it will continue to be a positive. I see a lof of people talking about how they will fall behind and not make improvements to the site because their primary focus will be money, but I do not think they got to this place and will just stop making their site the best out there just because of them going public. Especially now with the new competition coming in, such as Google+, which is becoming more and more popular and if Facebook slacks at all Google+ could pass them by. 

One thing I hope this doesn't mean is that Facebook will start a monthly or yearly subscription fee. I know personally if this happens I will not pay any amount of money to use Facebook. I know I can live with out it. I have also talked to many people and friends and they feel the same way as me. So, if this happens they will definaltly, in my mind, get passed by other social media sites and loose their position as the best site.

Facebook will always hold a big role in our social lives. In reference to what we share via Facebook, (photos, memories, who is friends with who, etc.), is it a great tool to utilize in that sense. However, as far as Facebook being worth $100 billion dollars, not so much. When all of those viral messages were going around saying that Facebook was going to start charging us to use the social network, this seemed to upset most people. However, I was one of the people that said "yeah, it may suck to not have Facebook for free anymore, but would you really pay $10/month just to use it?" I personally don't think that the use of a social website is worth paying for. Why? Because the next thing will come along as quickly as Facebook did. There are already way more sites to out there now!

However, I do believe in what Mark Zuckerberg is trying to do. He wants his company to stay afloat without having to start charging profile users. He wants his company to remain relevant and this is the necessary step that he must take in order to do so. I definitely think that $100 billion may be way over what Facebook really is worth, but I commend him for his efforts to try to do what's best for everyone. Facebook is more than just a place to post photos, videos, and status updates as it is increasingly becoming more of a platform for other businesses to utilize as well. I don't believe that Facebook will go anywhere from a short-term aspect, but without this IPO, will Facebook survive? It will be interesting to see what really happens!

Facebook is the world's premiere social networking site. When it comes to connecting with friends and family, both near and far, there is no better platform and it has even turned into a powerful business tool...With all of that being said, however, I must say that I do not believe it is worth $100 billion.

It is worth a lot of money, easily tens of billions, but when you look at its profit and revenues from last year ($1 billion and $3.71 billion, respectively) it is hard to justify its worth at $100 billion. Facebook's social power is obvious, but it still has concerns to address that hurt its value. It feels like every time I turn around there is another privacy complaint, including one that dealt with the Federal Trade Commission. As Facebook becomes a publicly traded company, I expect these concerns to continue mounting. Concerns like this probably aren't enough to cause users to leave the site, but they hurt its reputation as far as having a trustworthy product. When you're not producing something trustworthy, people aren't going to be inclined to invest in it and the company's value will decrease.

In addition to privacy concerns, a part of me feels like the social networking giant may have hit its peak. Facebook has inspired the creation of multiple other social networking sites and you never know when a site could come along and have the same effect on Facebook as Facebook had on MySpace. Statistics show that users are continually growing on Facebook, but with so many people now on Facebook, the growth is bound to start gradually declining. I can't picture membership declining at this point, but I can certainly see the growth rate starting to slow. I also feel that frequent Facebook users may start to develop "Facebook fatigue." I personally know people that tell me they get sick of Facebook and seeing the same things on there day after day. Facebook's semi-consistent interface changes don't help either, as they tend to come with a firestorm of criticism.

Facebook is powerful, and I personally can't foresee another social networking platform overtaking it anytime soon. Power and money almost always have a strong correlation and while Facebook is no exception, $100 billion is a bit too much money for me to value Facebook's power at.

I think Facebook maybe worth $100 billion, but I’m not sure if it will be worth that for long. Facebook may be gaining users, but I’m not sure they’re the right users. I’ve lived through the timeline of different social media sites. AOL to AIM to Live Journal to Xanga to Myspace to Facebook. Every time one is becoming outdated you slowly start to see your friends disappearing or not posting as often and eventually deleting their pages. Why? Because something with the site changes or because they’ve gotten sick of it, or simply because they don’t have time. Slowly, I’m starting to see this happen with a lot of my friends on facebook. Deleting their facebook because they’re sick of it or they just stop using it. When this has happened in the past, another site I use starts to evolve and gain more users. Honestly, I see this happening. A lot of my friends are making the change from Facebook to twitter. Why? I’m not really sure. I think it may be because it’s less complicated. It’s simple and limited to 160 characters. You don’t have to go to someone’s page, you can simply hit “@” and their name.

 

The reason I keep my facebook around? My family is on it. I personally feel like facebook has been a hit with older people. My grandma even has a facebook. When facebook was new you had to ask to join or get an email from someone who went to your school asking you to join. You had to attend high school or college. It was a social media site for us. You could post what you wanted to. But things have changed. Slowly parents, and grandparents, and teachers, and bosses started getting facebooks. It’s not a social media site for the younger population like it used to be. And although the website is still growing, I feel like it is because the older population keeps getting joining. We can adapt to different sites, but the older population becomes familiar to a site and sticks with it. I feel like the younger generation is needed to keep these websites alive or it becomes old and outdated. Like they say, out with the old, in with the new.

I am not a business person. So I want to talk about something I know about Facebook first. I know it is a cool website that commits itself to creative designs. Within ten years, Facebook has developed into the most popular social network in the world—it beats MySpace, and is also leading Twitter and G+… The spirit of the company is energetic and creative. Although personally speaking, I am not a big fan of Timeline, I don’t deny the success it has up till now—it does have many features I think is cool.

But now FB is filing IPO. This means the company is going to put greatest efforts on making money instead of developing new features. And according to the experience, a social network site doesn't always have a prosperous future. There is always a strong competitor. Once Facebook moves its priority in developing the site, it might lose its position in the market quickly, not to mention lots of other substitutes out there and young people get bored easily.

Anyway, Facebook has to stick to its company culture. People will tolerate crappy new features once or twice, but not always.

There is no doubt that Facebook is one of the leading social media sites we have today, if not the leading one. I would say Facebook is worth 100 billion dollars. It is the most widely used site for people to connect with each other in multiple different countries. Facebook has many benefits such as being free, having ease of use, minimizing advertisements, and adhering to what the public likes. Without Facebook, many people would suddenly lose their connections with a majority of their friends. Facebook friending, per se is a lot easier than getting someone's number or sending someone an email. You can also have groups and likes on Facebook. 

The possibility of Facebook filing for IPO is indeed great news. I know I would buy a share of Facebook stock if I were an investor. Facebook keeps continuing to impress us with new ideas. Now we have the Timeline instead of the Wall, and we also have Facebook video chat. I think an IPO would be a incredibly protitable decision. 

Although I am not very well versed when it comes to financials of a company, I believe Facebook is well worth $100billion. The number of users does not exceed a billion but the number of friendships is about 100 billion. I think it will be interesting to see how Facebook fans out over the next 5-10 years because many websites such as Myspace and AOL were very popular but faded out in time. Is Facebook just a trend or will it continue to be successful?

 

The Wall Street Journal Article about Facebook going public says that Mark Zuckerburg wanted to go public so that he could use the profit to pay for taxes. I found it very interesting that many analysts disagree on the success of Facebook’s revenues.

 

Companies live by the profit motive and essentially exist to make money. Therefore, from a strictly profit-centric approach, Facebook is nowhere close with their current revenue stream to warrant a $100 billion dollar valuation. The rational argument against such a high valuation won’t likely prevail, though. Eager investors view this IPO as “once in a lifetime” and will create enough hype to ensure the premium price. A very basic benchmark for valuing companies in various industries is three times sales (revenues). This would value Facebook around $12-13 billion.  Dan Lyons with The Daily Beast posits that “Apple—the biggest, most powerful, most lucrative tech company in the world—sells for just over three times last year’s revenues.”

Facebook brings in 1/10^th the revenues of Google but is demanding a dollar figure that pegs its worth as half as much as Google (Google’s current market value: $188 billion). How does that make sense? Sure Facebook as an organization defines online social networking, but a company that only had a mere $1.5 billion in operating profit for 2011 shouldn’t be valued as such. As an individual who has interned as a financial analyst in a business valuations firm, I find this IPO valuation to be bravely optimistic.

Like Brittany Weber, I'm not a business person. I can see value and worth in a company or organization, but I can't translate that into monetary value. Given what Facebook has contributed to humanity's ability to connect on a global level I would agree that Facebook is worth $100 billion. The numbers presented in the Wall Street Journal article (250 million photos per day is the one that strikes me) prove the impact the social networking site has had on businesses and individuals in just eight short years. The Business Insider articles says this will be one of the biggest public offerings in of any company history, but the fact that Facebook is so widely used makes it a "hugely symbolic" event. I got updates on my phone from the Associated Press and New York Times when the company made the announcement, but would I have cared if it had been a tech company other than Facebook? Probably not. Facebook has shaped how we network, how we make business deals, how we market, and that makes it worth $100 billion.

When I first saw that it’s speculated Facebook could be worth $100 billion, I was appalled and said no way. However, after reading through the class comments and thinking about the impact Facebook has had on the whole world, it became a lot more reasonable in my mind that this could be accurate. Facebook is so dynamic and innovative - they have continued to adapt and remain a market leader while attracting and retaining millions of users for close to 10 years. They are connected and have links to almost every website, specialized advertising to users’ location and interests, and additional games and apps that appeal to all. With over 845 million users who are all actively involved on Facebook, it is extremely unlikely that Facebook will ever fade or be taken out by an up-and-coming social networking competitor. If their effect on the world and web was not enough to convince me $100 billion is accurate, I took a look at this website and realized how influential Facebook has been in comparison to many of these other extremely valuable companies. $100 billion is a crazy amount that I can’t really comprehend, but Facebook is well worth it now and into the future. 

 

I think Facebook worth $100billion. Currently, it has over 800 million users and it has the largest amount of pictures in the world. Facebook knows about customers interestes, occupations, relationships, life and so on. The huge amount of personal data makes Facebook attractive to marketers. In the market, the ultimate goal for marketers is satisfying customers' needs and selling their products. Facebook undoubtedly provides a good opportunity for marketers. Besides, Facebook almost has changed a whole generation's life style. It changes the way of communication. It brings new energy to the business industy like public relations and marketing. As a result, for some time in the future, Facebook will still be the trend and has a high value in the market.  

In my opinion Facebook is worth $100 billion, and I agree that the site is doing the right thing by going public. From an advertising perspective, it is definitely worth $100 billion or more. I think we all appreciate all the services Facebook has to offer and the fact that it is all free. Facebook deciding to go public will help continue to keep the site free due to the fact that it will be making more money than ever. Facebook has opened so many doors for the world of social media. As the site continues to evolve it's popularity will contine to grow, which is why it is worth it to open the site to the public. Facebook has become a way of life, as we grow older facebook is continuing to grow with us (for example, creating Timeline). So, overall, I believe facebook is making the right decision by becoming public, it will be able to continue to please the 845 million who check their profile multiple times per day. Facebook in numbers is an internesting graphic that describes Facebook's numbers prior to the IPO and whats expected of the site in 2012.

I honestly am a creative and not a business person, so I do not know much about worth of anything. As for Facebook being worth $100 billion, the number seems steep, but like i said i do not know much about these things. However, what I do know is how vast of a following Facebook has. It was the only social media outlet I had until the NMDL course. With all of its users, there is obviously a lot of advertising. And I pay more attention to advertisements on facebook than I do on my TV or radio these days. I think Facebook will not be outdated soon. It is too addicting and loved by many (well as long as they stop making these stupid changes which make it less of a site for connecting with lost class mates and more of a stalker application so that everyone knows where everyone is) I like the old idea of facebook. The original purpose. and to me that was worth the money. However I do not know what I would do with out a facebook. It is the one thing besides my email that i check over excessively. I am always on it. As much as I do not want to be this addicted, it's nature will not allow otherwise. So yes I think facebook is worth any amount of money since I don't know how this generation would be without it. 

Facebook filing to become a publicly traded company is a smart decision, due to their 2011 filings requiring them to publicly release the company's financials. The company, which grew significantly in global users in 2011, has resisted IPO prior to this, focusing on creating the best product for its 845 million users. So the question is, is Facebook worth 10 billion dollars? If taking into account the up and coming competing social media sites, to profit from selling shares is the right move. However, these buyers don't seem to be looking ahead. I foresee the end of Facebook coming sooner than most would expect. Google+ is creeping up with a seemingly similar platform, but also with new technology, such as handouts, that allow a sort of mass contact to certain groups that Facebook doesn't offer. So my opinion is then, that Facebook is worth the 10 billion right now, but may be a poor investment for the next 5 years.

Right on Facebook's log in/sign up page it says "It's free and always will be." That statement means a lot to me and a lot of other consumers. It is a promise that the website will never sell out and will continue to be a free service. I think filing for IPO will only help this cause. It will bring money to the site that they can use to continue to futher improve the platform with innovative developments. They won't have to rely on other sources for money such as user fees. This will also give us, the public, more power to influence Facebook. Users are already important stakeholders, but now we can essentially own a share of the website increasing our importance as a stakeholder.

Facebook hopes to raise $10 billion with this IPO, but I estimate they will make much more than that. The IPO is already being discussed as a global event that will be witnessed worldwide. It is very possible that Facebook is worth around $100 billion and a $10 billion goal is pretty modest. Maybe someday Facebook will reach its peak in popularity and wealth, but as of now I think the site will continue to climb and this IPO will provide even more of a boost.

 

Personally I think valuing Facebook at such a high number is dangerous and misleading. Sure Facebook is the powerhouse in current social media, but recently things have begun to change. Higher numbers of people have begun leaving the social network site as of recent, along with a rapidly decreasing amount of people creating new accounts. Facebook was the first site to really do social networking the right way. They made a simple interface that was able to include plugins and enable people to connect. Now more and more social networking sites are becoming readily available. Facebook is great but it has limitations, new start up sites that realize these faults will be able to capitalize on them.

The society we live in thrives off of innovations and creation. Competition is what makes our country so great; people striving to be the next Mark Zuckerberg will be the ones to create the next big thing. To value Facebook so highly causes great concern for me. Throughout history when things are overvalued they create bubbles and when these bubbles burst havoc soon follows in the footsteps. A perfect example of this is the great depression in the 1930’s, overvalued stock prices along with other variables lead to the near collapse of our economy.

So valuing Facebook so highly may cause other social network sites to be overvalued. The last thing our suffering economy needs right now is another overvalued market, I thought we might have learned our lesson with the overvalued housing market that just crashed and sent the economy into a downward spiral. A long answer made short I think Facebook is way too overvalued, and valuing companies like this can easily generate problems in the future. 

 

There is no way Facebook is worth $100 Billion. With the rapid decrease of people joining Facebook and all of those who delete their account every day, this is a perfect time to go public. Everyone believes them to be a powerhouse, but the only reason they are is because it’s a trend right now. Yes, people want to stay connected, but how much can you share on Facebook, and what other services do they have besides posting about yourself, writing on each others’ walls and chatting. When another company comes along and creates a product that encompasses these features, and many more, Facebook will be left in the dust. But is it possible to shake the 800 million users overnight? No. But the fact that within a few years it could be possible, Facebook being one dimensional and only really earning money from sponsors and advertisers and worth this much is madness.

 

 

Facebook's success is the result of hype. Facebook's hype started because of the news and how it started. In agreement with the third article you posted it's more about how popular it's become than using it for an advertising purpose. I realize that this is coming from a college student who hears phrases like, "tag me", "I'll put it on your wall" and so on. The thing is that in the student world the idea of Facebook is overlooked we use it to let everyone know about our party on Saturday night not exactly to have everyone see the new brand we just purchased or get our name out there. In my eyes Facebook is definitely not worth $100 Billion. On the other side it’s the best way to reach a large majority of people. If you don’t have a Facebook it’s seen as well you should get one. You can miss key information and when something happens Facebook is one of the firsts to know. 845 million people use Facebook and most likely on a more than daily basis. As an advertiser this is one of the greatest social media outlets out there right now and it’s only growing. Introducing an IPO is one of the best things Mark Zuckerberg could’ve done. It’s genius in the idea that it will only make more money. Do I think it’s worth that in terms of an IPO, yes. “The importance is Facebook the platform, which allows developers to build social experiences into everything they create, regardless of the computing device that users have in front of them,” from the first article you posted. This is exactly what will keep Facebook about ground for years and years to come. Especially since the mobile apps have allowed Facebook to soar. So yes it's worth it but without the 845 million people who keep it afloat it wouldn't be worth near that. 

 

Is facebook worth $100 Billion? From my perspective no, but from the advertisers perspective yes. I don't know about you, but when I go on facebook and see the ads on the side of the page, I haven't clicked on them once. They don't appeal to me and haven't grabbed my attention. Advertisers see this as a huge opportunity to reach 845 million people which is a huge target audience.

With 85% of facebook profits coming from advertising, advertisers believe that they can gain profits through this site. Facebook needs to be careful in the future and not get too greedy. If Facebook started charging monthly fees to it's users, I would be gone. I believe many other users would agree with me on this. This is why I believe Facebook is not worth $100 Billion in the eyes of the users. Without us users, Facebook would not even come close to being valued at this amount.

I do not think that Facebook is worth $100 billion. With 85% of it's revenue coming from advertising (Wall Street Journal), what happens when the audience is no longer there? While I personally don't see the population of Facebook users leaving in a mad dash from something else in the next couple of years, there is always something new coming out. Like the first article stated, each of those historic IPOs started a revolution, if you will. So if they equate Facebook going public to one of those movements I see that as spelling trouble for Facebook and it's mass of users. and when the users are gone there is no one left to see the ads that are being placed and thus advertisers will pull from Facebook. And without the ads it's $1 billion yearly profit would be cut down to 15% of that. I feel like there is too much riding on the advertising to make Facebook truely worth $100 billion.

 

Something is only worth as much as people are willing to pay for it.  The same rule applies to Facebook.  Facebook has revolutionized social media for our generation.  Mark Zuckerberg was focused from the begininng to build a place to conncect with others.  His concentration has lead Facbook to be the company it is today. Right now, Facebook has approximately 845 million users.  With this being said, I think Facebook is definitely worth $100 billion dollars.  

Initially Facebook was created to strictly connect with friends; however over the years it has developed into much more than that.  Now Facebook is being used as a marketing tool, building business cliental, and for entertainment.  Some of Facebook’s current functions allow for revenue to increase so of course people will be willing to invest in something that is benefiting them.  Whether or not Facebook filling for an IPO is positive or negative, the news is still a very big deal.  The social media site has a huge following and one that is here to stay.  

 

It was bound to happen. A company with 845 million users and currently has 500 shareholders should regularly report its financial earnings for investors to decide to stay put or sell their share. Facebook is worth $100 billion, but the potential risks and trends outweigh their growth as a continued social media monopoly. 85 percent of their revenue comes from solely advertising. To see this advertising, one must be on a desktop or laptop. With monthly active users reaching an astonishing 425 million users, the mobile version is only bound to grow, and possibly takeover desktop-users. Also overhead and software maintenance costs such as buying a new data center in California, could hinder income performance. Facebook is making the right move by going public, but will they be able to keep up with the ever-changing market and move toward an all-mobile world? Only time will tell; I’m excited to see how they adapt.      

 

 

I believe that Facebook is definitely worth $100 billion, if not more. When Facebook was created, the social media realm was changed forever. Facebook has not only allowed billions of people to stay connected or find old friends via the Internet, but it also provides businesses a place to market to certain demographics. The fact that Facebook has managed to support all of its users, rather effortlessly, is something that will always amaze me. Like I mentioned before, Facebook also makes a lot of their money from companies who are trying market their products on Facebook. The cool thing about Facebook is that depending on how old you are, or your listed interests, it tailors messages and ads to what they think you would be most interested in! If that’s not worth a lot of money, then I do not know what is!

I found the link below on one of my favorite Social Media websites and I thought I would share it because it's got a quiz at the end where you can test your knowledge of Facebook and the IPO situation. 

http://mashable.com/2012/02/03/facebook-ipo-test-your-knowledge/