Facebook to delay its IPO until the end of 2012

 

The Facebook social network has decided to delay its IPO, originally scheduled for next April, to the end of 2012, in order to keep its employees focused on product developments, the Financial Times reported today in its on-line edition.
 
Facebook, which has more than 750 million users worldwide and is valued at 65 billion dollars, according to recent private study, was expected to go public in April 2012 and some even speculated that it could have happened this year, according to the newspaper.
 
In fact, last January, the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg, sent a memorandum to potential investors, considering April 2012 as a possible IPO date.
 
However, sources close to the company have told the Financial Times that Zuckerberg wants to wait until "September or later" in 2012 in order to keep employees focused on product developments rather than a potential pay-out.
 
Other companies linked to the Internet world such as Zynga and Groupon have also been holding back their IPO plans amid recent market turmoil. But in Facebook's case the delay has only to do with "internal interests", according to sources quoted by the newspaper.