When will facebook's stock go public?

Question

I heard Yahoo tried to buy them out but facebook was holding out to go public, when will this happen??

Answer 1

They're probably holding out to get a little more money from a suitor.

IPO's of the smaller companies are very unpredictable. Take a look at Vonage (VG) for example. They thought that because they started to catch on, that they make a killing.

Well, I guess that happened in a way. All their shareholders got killed.

So, as to when they'll go public, it's probably a slim chance that they even do so. If they do, it'll take them quite a while because of all the regulatory things they'll have to do with regards to disclosures, etc. Look for something to happen in the next year or so where they most likely get bought out by a desperate suitor. :-)

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Probable never. It is a private company. If the current owners want to cash out, the company would probably provide more wealth sold as a unit to some giant media company. (Think of Viacom, Sony, GE (owner of NBC), Disney)