Is Facebook's IPO worth $100B?

Computerworld - Facebook may not be having its initial public offering until sometime in 2012 but its potential valuation is already generating a lot of buzz.

For months now, would-be investors and industry analysts have been expecting the world's largest social networking site to conduct an IPO next year.

And there's been a lot of talk that this could be the biggest and most exciting IPO since Google went public.

Some even say Facebook's IPO could be bigger than Google's.

And then on Monday, CNBC reported that Facebook could be looking at a valuation of more than $100 billion.

Social networking sites are beginning to gain some momentum in launching IPOs.

LinkedIn, which is usually seen as a B player in the social networking world, had a successful IPO just last month. It was the first U.S.-based social network to go public and its success inspired a lot of expectations of how bigger, more popular sites might do.

Early this month, Groupon, the online daily deals company, followed suit, announcing its own plan for an IPO. Groupon is aiming to raise $750 million.

Now Facebook, the big dog of the social networking world, is looking ahead to an IPO that could potentially tower over the others.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at  @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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