Facebook to go public in May

Facebook Inc. is preparing its initial public offering for May in what is shaping up to be the largest-ever U.S. Internet offering, the Wall Street Journal said citing people familiar with the matter. The social networking giant suspended trading of its shares on the secondary market this week, as it needs time to take stock of its current shareholder base before the IPO, the paper quoted an insider source as saying. One of the fastest-growing companies in the tech industry, Facebook filed for an IPO early last month in an offering that could raise $10 billion and value the company, set up in 2004, at $100 billion, the paper said. Since then, demand for the company’s shares has increased on the secondary market to swell its valuation to $105 billion in some trades.