It’s hard to believe that Facebook has only been around for eight years. However, last Wednesday the Harvard-dorm-room-start-up filed preliminary paperwork for its hugely anticipated IPO. An IPO, or initial public offering, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. The company plans to release its shares in May.

By the time of the sale, The New York Times says the internet giant could be worth as much as $100 billion. That’s excluding the $5 billion in capital the IPO sale is expected to generate. That means, if successful, Facebook will hold the record for the largest internet IPO.

Without question, the most interesting part of this deal is the staggering figures revealed in Facebook’s SEC filings. Figures, the company has kept virtually secret until now, such as:

·        Facebook currently reports an active user base of 845 million. In September, that number was estimated at 800 million users.

·         Every day, Facebook users upload more than 250 million photos and contribute more than 2.5 billion ‘Likes’ and comments.

·         Currently, the company estimates that there are 100 billion Facebook friendships on its site.

·         And in 2011, Facebook earned a whopping $1 billion on $3.7 billion in sales.

We can't help but wonder, do the numbers revealed in Facebook’s SEC filings surprise you? Is going public the right move for the company? And, when the shares do become available, will you be buying stock?