Facebook says no IPO in 2009
A piece I wrote on what a recently oversubscribed buyback means for Facebook's IPO got an animated response from Facebook spokesperson Larry Yu. The most important takeway for me was that Facebook will not have an IPO in 2009 and isn't even close to doing so. However, the devil is in the details and Yu does not deny Facebook could file the S1 precursor to an IPO this year.
Larry's reply was interesting, although his logic doesn't make complete sense to me. So I'll reprint in entirety below. and explain my confusion after the jump. I do give Larry credit for stating his case strongly.
Alex,
I was quite shocked by your speculative piece on Facebook's IPO. First and foremost, to state Facebook expects to go public "this year" is completely wrong. As you well know, the typical timetable for an IPO (from the S1 filing to the actual share offering) runs six to nine months. This claim, therefore, is predicated on the notion that filings and other activities started months ago, which is simply not the case."
