Facebook to file its $5 Billion IPO today

Facebook, the social networking giant will launch the much anticipated, awaited, highly speculated and so on this week. The company will file the IPO today and a report states that the it will raise it well below the expectation, $5 billion.

Sources claim that the company will raise half the previously reported amount that is $10 billion. In May, it will launch the shares to the general public after a smooth registration process with SEC. The effort will be led by Morgan Stanley though the others like JP Morgan, Barclays Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are in the initial book-runners list.

The representatives of Facebook were not available for comments on this. The IPO timing was announced last week and since the past three days, the social network has stopped trading in the secondary markets. These are the signals to indicate the arrival of the move.

Once the paperwork is filed, Facebook will go into a quiet period making no product launches, public statements and interviews. This is one of the reason for the company to quickly launch the new profile look, Timeline and to roll out a set of applications all of the sudden.