Facebook has priced its initial public offering at $38 a share, giving the world’s largest social network a valuation of $104 billion. That puts the company on par with the
market cap of Amazon and ahead of other tech giants like HP and Dell combined.
Facebook priced at the high end of its $34 to $38 IPO price range—hardly surprising given the outsized
level of demand by investors eager to get a piece of the third biggest offering in U.S. history. It had previously raised the range from $28 to $35.
The company could raise more than $18.4
billion if underwriters exercise the over-allotment option to sell additional shares. On Wednesday, Facebook increased the size of the IPO by 25% to 421 million shares in response to overwhelming
investor enthusiasm. Shares are set to begin trading Friday.