• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, January 30, 2012

Years in the making, Web watchers are bracing for what will likely be the biggest tech IPO since Google.  

Yes, Facebook is close to filing documents for a long expected public offering that is on track take place in late May, reports AllThingsD. As such, “there will be no lack of media hype, elaborate obfuscation by rivals and a plethora of inaccurate hoo-ha that is about to be unleashed upon the world,” it writes.

“The company is discussing a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek, citing two sources. “The tech giant is aiming to raise a whopping $10 billion,” CNN reports. “That would eclipse the previous U.S. IPO tech record set by Google. In 2004, the search engine and e-mail provider, raked in just under $2 billion.”

Readily weighing in on such matters since signing up for Twitter: Rupert Murdoch tweeted, this weekend: "Facebook a brilliant achievement, but $75-100bn? Would make Apple look really cheap."

Among other reasons why he thinks a Facebook IPO is “irrelevant,” Forbes contributor Peter Cohan agrees that the company is immensely overvalued.  Yet, “it's difficult not to mention Google in the same breath as Facebook these days,” writes The Register. “For context, in 2004 Google's initial public offering was given a $1.9bn leg-up and was valued at $23bn on its Wall Street debut. The rest, as they say, was history.”

As for the timing of the event, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that it could come Wednesday, although its sources said is could shift a day or even two later.

Looking ahead, The Consumerist writes: “After Facebook goes public, it will be interesting to see how the company changes its mode of operation to please stockholders, who will want to see ad revenue shoot off the charts.” Also, “It will be interesting to see how any policy changes will affect Facebook users and in turn, the network's popularity.”