Facebook Raises $1.5 Billion

Facebook may be forced to go public sooner than it hoped: The world's leading social network confirmed today that it has taken in an oversubscribed $1.5 billion of financing, most of which came from Goldman Sachs, giving the company a projected value of $50 billion and preparing the world for what could be one of the largest IPOs next year. In a statement detailing the new investment, Facebook said it would begin to file public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012. However, U.S. securities regulations require companies with more than 499 shareholders to disclose financial information to the public, and Facebook expects to exceed that number sometime this year. Some $1 billion of the financing came from Goldman Sachs' overseas clients and $500 million from Goldman itself and Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies.