Before the IPO comes the S-1, and now it’s here: the long-time-coming regulatory filing from Facebook and the antecedent to an initial public offering that is expected to be one of the largest in history, seeking to raise $5 billion in capital, on its way to an estimated valuation between $75 and $100 billion.
The S-1 filing from the 800 million-user social network is the big reveal—pages and pages of single-spaced text spelling out the company’s risk factors, business model, and financial records, all of which will be held up to the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
