Is Facebook worth $100 billion?

BY AGENCIES

A long list of tech IPOs captured attention in 2011, but no company has been drooled over like Facebook. And finally, its debut looks to be imminent.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Facebook may file for an initial public offering as early as this Wednesday. It's still not certain if Facebook will actually file this week.

But that hasn't stopped people from speculating about how much Facebook might be worth.

Some experts have suggested that the social network could be worth anywhere between $75 billion and $100 billion once it starts trading. No matter what the valuation Facebook's IPO is undeniably hot, says Max Wolff, chief economist at GreenCrest Capital.

He expects Facebook will be valued at $85 billion to $100 billion, and that the company will sell about 8.5% to 10% of its available shares in the offering. Based on those estimates, Facebook would raise between $7.2 billion and $10 billion from the sale of its stock.

But there's a lot more riding on Facebook's paperwork than wealth creation. The social network has become an entire ecosystem, supporting independent app makers and gaming platforms like Zynga (ZNGA).

Facebook's filing will have implications for companies that depend on it, as well as the social media landscape at large. Until then, analysts are left to speculate about Facebook's revenue streams and profitability -- and whether it really deserves a $100 billion market value.

Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Securities, says the rumored valuation range is reasonable -- though he won't cite a specific estimate of his own.