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Facebook Inc’s initial public offering will vastly increase the wealth of its 27 year old co founder, Mr Mark Zuckerberg, leaving him with over $ 1 billion in cash and stocks worth $ 17.6 billion.
In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said it will sell 337.41 million shares and the initial public offering (IPO) price will be between $ 28 and $ 35 per share.
At this range, the company will be valued at between $ 77 billion and $ 96 billion.
Mr Zuckerberg, who held a total of 533.8 million shares, would sell 30.2 million shares garnering about $1.05 billion in cash at the high end of the range. His remaining 504 million shares will make him worth $ 17.6 billion if Facebook hits the top of its IPO range.
The pricing indicates Mr Zuckerberg’s total holding is worth about $ 18.68 billion making him richer than Microsoft Corp’s Steve Ballmer and Wipro’s Azim Premji.
Mr Zuckerberg, who started Facebook from Harvard dorm room in 2004, would retain voting control of 58.8 per cent of the company after the IPO and plans to use the proceeds to cover taxes.
In 2011, Zuckerberg took home $ 1.49 million. He had a base salary of $ 483,333 in 2011, but it would decline to just $ 1 next year, on his request.
Besides, social network’s early investors, Mr James Breyer of the venture capital firm Accel Partners, who’s offering 38.2 million shares. Other stockholders who would be offering shares would pocket $ 1.33 billion.
In addition, Goldman Sachs is unloading 20 per cent of its stake, or 13.2 million shares would take home $ 462 million.
Facebook, which is expected to go public on May 18, is likely to raise about $ 11 billion through the IPO at the upper end of the price band. The stock would be listed on NASDAQ under the symbol ‘FB’,
With 901 million users as of March 31, 2012, Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world and a magnet for advertisers.
It’s much anticipated IPO is expected to shadow that of other tech giants like Google which had raised $ 1.9 billion and valued the company at about $ 23 billion when it went public in 2004.
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