Facebook IPO 'expected to take place on May 17'

London, Apr 20(ANI): Facebook's flotation is expected to take place on May 17.

The social networking company, which lodged its initial public offering (IPO) documents at the beginning of February 2012, is believed to be gearing for the May 17 floatation on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to clear the paperwork for the IPO by this date as well as approving Facebook's one billion dollar acquisition of photo-sharing application Instagram, The Telegraph reports.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is believed to have only told the social network's board that he had signed the huge deal with Instagram on the day it was announced.

A Facebook IPO is expected to be valued at around 100 billion dollars making it the biggest ever stock market flotation by an internet company.

The initial documents for the IPO were lodged in February 2011 whereby it was revealed Zuckerberg owns a 28.4 percent stake in the company.

"[The structure] provides Zuckerberg with the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if he owns significantly less than a majority of the shares," the filing said. (ANI)