The world is anticipating Facebook to file for an initial public offering this week, and most indicators point to $10 billion in stock and a valuation at over $100 billion.Just how did our little status updates and vacation photos turn into what will likely be the biggest tech IPO in history (and a valuation that rivals some of the world’s biggest multinational banks and telecoms)?
Our number-crunching friends at Statista have pulled down a swell of stats on the company’s mind-boggling ascendance in recent years. Most of the numbers indicate that Facebook is built to last. Its ad revenue far surpasses its social network contemporaries, its user base is projected to grow in 2012, and its revenue per employee and per user is on a steady upward climb
But pause a moment to consider the ratio of income to value. As the graphic below points out, if we were to project, say, Apple’s valuation on the same scale, the electronics maker would be worth at least $2.2 trillion — a ridiculous number, to say the least. Does a perspective like that indicate a dangerous gulf between perceived and actual value? And are crazy-big IPOs like this another sign of Dot Com Bubble 2.0?
