Facebook moves slowly towards an IPO

PEOPLE DATABASE Facebook will bring itself forward for an initial public offering next year, but not until Mark Zuckerberg is ready.

According to the Financial Times the firm, which is reckoned to be worth more than the Beatles, has delayed its IPO because Mark Zuckerberg is worried that cash rich workers will not focus on product development.

It has never seemed to affect him, but with a company reckoned to be worth somewhere in the region of $66.5bn, it's understandable that Zuckerberg might expect his workers to get a sudden rush of cash and go on holiday or something.

Sources close to the firm told the FT that Zuckerberg wants to move the IPO from April next year until September, or later. Those apparent insiders revealed that the idea of focusing on product for the extra months appeals to the Facebook CEO, as he expects many employees to cash out at the earliest opportunity.

Importantly too, perhaps, Zuckerberg and Facebook's other investors might not see other social networks like Google+ as real challenges and are confident that they can carry on their business of being in other peoples' business for as long as they like. µ