Facebook transition from cool to corporate 

Facebook, the online social networking site started by Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, decision to rebuff a $1 billion takeover offer from Yahoo, has officially completed its transition cool to corporate. According to multiple sources, Facebook (valued at around $100 billion) is eying IPO on 17th or the 24th to go public.

With an estimated valuation of $100 billion or more, Facebook is the most highly anticipated IPO since Google’s 2004 debut. Facebook, 800 million-member social network submitted its initial public offering (IPO) on 2 February, news comes as Facebook is granted permission to extend its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, after agreeing with the local council to pump $1m a year into improving the local area, according to Mercury News.

“Essentially in lieu of sales tax,” Facebook will pay out $800,000 a year for the first five years, $900,000 for the following five years and $1m a year thereafter – plus increases based on the Consumer Price Index. A one-off payment of $1.1m for the city was also agreed on.

In return, Facebook now has permission to increase its headquarters from its current 3,600-employee capacity to 6,600 on its 57-acre, nine-building site – formerly the home of Sun Microsystems.

The social-media giant, Facebook’s IPO is expected to be one of the largest tech offerings ever. Adding intrigue to the equation was Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram. It looks like Facebook wasn’t the only social network interested in Instagram. But, Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom chose Facebook over Twitter. Could this be the beginning of a major rift between Zuckerberg, who controls 57 percent of Facebook’s voting rights, and his board of initial investors?