Bloomberg
Facebook Inc., the most popular social-networking Web site, can take more time to decide on an initial public offering after Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies bought a stake, the head of the investment group said.
“Any IPO should be business driven and not liquidity driven as the latter can be done through the private market,” Chief Executive Officer Yuri Milner said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Moscow today. “That’s what we do, so founders and management can focus on business execution.”
“Any IPO should be business driven and not liquidity driven as the latter can be done through the private market,” Chief Executive Officer Yuri Milner said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Moscow today. “That’s what we do, so founders and management can focus on business execution.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook as a Harvard University student in 2004, said in May he expects the company to have an IPO, though he wasn’t focused on it. Facebook is privately owned with a dual-class stock structure designed to allow current shareholders to hold on to voting control. Milner said today it’s up to Facebook’s board and management and not DST whether the social-networking Web site should hold an IPO.
Facebook SEO may attract the same level of attention as Google Inc.’s share sale in 2004, Adam Oliveri, managing director at New York-based SecondMarket, an exchange for private companies, said last month. Google sold 19.6 million shares for $1.67 billion in August 2004, giving the company a market value of $23 billion.
Facebook SEO may attract the same level of attention as Google Inc.’s share sale in 2004, Adam Oliveri, managing director at New York-based SecondMarket, an exchange for private companies, said last month. Google sold 19.6 million shares for $1.67 billion in August 2004, giving the company a market value of $23 billion.
Kommersant Report
Paul Bard, an analyst at Renaissance Capital LLC, which has specialized in IPO research since 1991, also said last month that Facebook may sell stock through an IPO within 12 to 18 months. Zuckerberg said in May that an IPO is “something we’ll do when we’re ready for it” and “it’s something we don’t see on the immediate horizon.”
DST, which has offices in Moscow and London, in May paid $200 million for less than 2 percent of Palo Alto, California- based Facebook. The Russian investment company has since raised its stake to 5 percent and spent at least $400 million on its Facebook investment, Kommersant reported yesterday, citing an unidentified person at an investment fund close to Facebook.
Milner today declined to comment on the report, adding that DST doesn’t need to disclose details on its holdings as it is a private company.
Paul Bard, an analyst at Renaissance Capital LLC, which has specialized in IPO research since 1991, also said last month that Facebook may sell stock through an IPO within 12 to 18 months. Zuckerberg said in May that an IPO is “something we’ll do when we’re ready for it” and “it’s something we don’t see on the immediate horizon.”
DST, which has offices in Moscow and London, in May paid $200 million for less than 2 percent of Palo Alto, California- based Facebook. The Russian investment company has since raised its stake to 5 percent and spent at least $400 million on its Facebook investment, Kommersant reported yesterday, citing an unidentified person at an investment fund close to Facebook.
Milner today declined to comment on the report, adding that DST doesn’t need to disclose details on its holdings as it is a private company.
