Facebook, the leading social network, is expected to file for an initial public offering as early as Wednesday, February 1, the Wall Street Journal reported. Conway G. Gittens reports.
TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Facebook wants to be friends with Wall Street. The world's leading social network is preparing to file an initial public offering as early as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The IPO would value Facebook at between $75 billion and $100 billion, the report, citing unidentified sources, stated. The report also noted Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are expected to play lead roles in what may be one of the biggest and most anticipated IPOs in U.S. history. However, investors should be careful not to get caught up in the hype, warns Jim O'Shaughnessy of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management.
JIM O'SHAUGHNESSY, CHAIRMAN/CEO, O'SHAUGHNESSY ASSET MANAGEMENT: "Many IPOs come out being very, very overvalued because they get so hyped up and investors are so taken in by the story that they're willing to pay any amount just to be able to get into the stock. That generally translates to being very overvalued. So we generally tell investors that they should wait, probably a good full year before they look at buying a stock that was recently IPO'd."
REPORTER: Facebook declined to comment. Conway Gittens, Reuters.
