Facebook to go public or disclose data by 2012

Facebook Inc. intends to start publicly disclosing internal financial information or stage an initial public offering of its shares by April 2012, according to a report published Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that according to a new private-placement memo being distributed to potential investors in Facebook, the company intends to cross a 500-shareholder limit this year, which could force it to begin publicly disclosing financial data as soon as early 2012.

However, the document also makes clear that Facebook will likely already by publicly traded by 2012, according to the report.

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The document seen by The Wall Street Journal makes clear that this is not the case, according to the report, as Facebook already anticipates being subjected to disclosure requirements by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a publicly traded firm by the time the 500 shareholder disclosure rule would take effect.