Facebook trading halted on secondary markets

Facebook has reportedly halted trading of its shares on secondary markets, ahead of what some analysts believe could be the first steps towards filing listing documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Such a move comes after months of speculation that Facebook would float on the stock exchange this year, with its number of shareholders continuing to rise after a Goldman Sachs funding round in 2011.

According to Bloomberg, Facebook will halt trading of shares on secondary markets for three days. The story also points out that many companies have often halted trading on secondary markets in the past to count their shareholders.

Facebook is said to be seeking an IPO to raise more than $US10 billion, with a valuation of $US100 billion. Analysts are eagerly awaiting the float to see whether the company can outgrow some other tech listings that have failed to impress over the past year, including the listings of Pandora, Zynga and Groupon.

 

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