The company’s IPO, were it to happen by next spring, would probably be triggered by a section of the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act known as “the 500 rule,” these people say.
Essentially, the rule mandates that once a private company has more than 500 investors, it must begin releasing quarterly financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission, just as public companies do.
Facebook, which has indicated that it expects to cross the 500-investor threshold this year, would probably want to launch a formal IPO in advance of a public-company reporting obligation that would kick in next April, say people familiar with the matter, making a first-quarter offering a likelihood.
Another factor motivating the likely new issue, say the people familiar with the matter, is the desire to increase employee compensation.
Early last year, Facebook put curbs on employees’ ability to sell their company shares privately to other investors, a move that may now be prompting employees to quit Facebook in order to be able to monetize their shares.
Were the company to go public, however, employees would be able to sell their stock on the open market at various times during the year, allowing them to cash in on their holdings.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com