Facebook Inc. is preparing its initial public offering for May, according to people familiar with the matter, in what is shaping up to be the largest-ever U.S. Internet offering.
The Menlo Park, Calif., social network halted trading of its shares on the secondary market this week, as it sets about nailing down its shareholder count, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Facebook filed for an IPO in early February, in an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the eight-year-old company at $100 billion. Facebook made $1 billion in 2011 on $3.71 billion in revenue. It has 845 million users globally.
Facebook is still in discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its IPO and expects to file at least one more amendment to its S1 registration papers, according to one person. The company last filed an amended S1 on Tuesday.
It's unclear which week in May Facebook is aiming to go public, cautioned the person, and the timing may still change. The timing depends in large part on the SEC and isn't in Facebook's control, this person added.
Facebook has seen demand grow for its shares on the secondary market since the company filed to go public, boosting its valuation to about $105 billion in some trades.
Although the secondary market is still young, it is routine for companies to halt trading before an IPO to have time to account for its current shareholder base, said a person familiar with the secondary market. Bloomberg earlier reported that Facebook had halted trading of its shares on the secondary market.
Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com and Randall Smith at randall.smith@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared Mar. 29, 2012, on page B4 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Facebook Eyes May IPO, Halts Secondary Trading.
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