Facebook CEO not in rush for IPO

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is in no rush to take the popular social-networking site public, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old CEO told the Journal in an interview that the company would eventually launch an initial public offering (IPO), but added “we are definitely in no rush.”

“If you don’t need that capital, then all the pressures are different, and the motivations (to go public) are not there in the same way,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.

Zuckerberg told Reuters in May last year that an IPO was a few years out. In November, Facebook announced a dual-class stock structure to ensure voting control by existing owners, but reiterated it had no plans yet to go public.

Facebook, which lets users connect and share information with friends online, has emerged as one of the Internet’s most popular destinations, challenging established powerhouses like Yahoo Inc and Google Inc.

Facebook counts around 400 million users and has had large investments from the Microsoft Corp and from Russian investment company Digital Sky Technologies.

Source: Reuters