Thursday, February 2, 2012

Will Facebook's IPO Unbottle Southern California's Pipeline?

Will the filing of an IPO by Menlo Park-based Facebook unclock the pipeline of would-be Southern Calfornia IPOs? Facebook filed for its IPO Wednesday afternoon, saying that it is looking to raise up to $5 billion, in what is expected to be the biggest IPO since Google. The firm reported net income of $1 billion on revenues of $3.7 billion in 2011 in its S-1, which is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, and Allen & Company. Southern California has not had a major, venture backed, technology IPO since May of last year, when Active Network hit the market; it has only one IPO on the calendar this year so far, for Thousand Oaks-based Ceres, expected next week--despite a number of companies who appear to be perpetually in registration, awaiting a turn in the markets.

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