Facebook valued at $94bn in private auction

May become 9th-largest US tech company in terms of market share

Facebook Inc, the social-networking company that’s preparing for an initial public offering, had a valuation of at least $94 billion yesterday in an auction of its shares on the private market.

SharesPost Inc completed an auction of 100,000 shares of Facebook’s Class B common stock, according to an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News. The shares were sold for a clearing price of $40 each, valuing the company at $94 billion based on a fully diluted share count of about 2.35 billion, according to SharesPost.

Facebook filed this week to raise at least $5 billion in the largest Internet IPO on record. The Menlo Park, California-based company, with 845 million users worldwide, is considering a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said last week. At the top of the range, Facebook would be the ninth-biggest US technology company by market value.

SCRIPTING SUCCESS

* SharesPost Inc completed an auction of 1,00,000 shares of Facebook’s Class B common stock. The shares were sold for a clearing price of $40 each, valuing the company at $94 billion, based on a fully diluted share count of 2.35 billion, according to SharesPost.

* A $100-billion market capitalisation would value Facebook at 26.9 times trailing 12-month sales, more than double Google Inc’s valuation, when the search-engine operator went public in 2004.

* The valuation based on a per-share price of $40 may change depending on the actual share count after the IPO.

* As of December 31, 2011, Facebook had 117.1 million Class A shares and 1.76 billion Class B shares outstanding. Besides, there are about 380 million restricted stock units that vest at a later date, as well as other shares tied to options and compensation.

A $100 billion market capitalisation would value Facebook at 26.9 times trailing 12-month sales, more than double Google Inc.’s valuation when the search-engine operator went public in 2004. Revenue at Facebook jumped 88 per cent last year to $3.71 billion, while net income climbed by almost two-thirds to $1 billion.

The valuation based on a per-share price of $40 may change depending on the actual share count after the IPO. As of December 31, Facebook had 117.1 million Class A shares and 1.76 billion Class B shares outstanding. Additionally, there are about 380 million restricted stock units that vest at a later date, as well as other shares tied to options and compensation.

Jeremiah Hall, a spokesman for SharesPost, confirmed the auction. Jonathan Thaw, a spokesman for Facebook, declined to comment.