Technology Blog

Facebook's long-awaited debut on the stock market could be underway as early as next week, as the company prepares to file IPO papers, according to the Wall Street Journal.The Initial Public Offering, which is unlikely to take place until the autumn, will value the social network at anywhere between $75bn and $100bn, says the report.The company hopes to raise $10 billion in cash from the offering and could file papers underwritten by Morgan Stanley as early as Wednesday.If Facebook gained a $100 billion valuation through the offering, it would see the company draw level with McDonald's in terms of market worth, put it about halfway to overhauling Google.In the worksA Facebook floatation would see the culmination of a long-awaited to journey towards the stock market. If Facebook were to become a publicly traded entity, interested observers would glean more insight into the company's income, earnings, performance and strategy in quarterly earnings reports.It would also mean, for the first time, maverick CEO Mar