How Much Is Facebook Really Worth?

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I haven't seen the Social Network yet (I know, I know - I should really see it!), but do keep in mind that movies often present things in a biased way.

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in February 2004, so he was 20 back then.

No one really knows how much Facebook is worth yet. Are you talking about the book value or the market value? Naturally, Facebook's market value vs. book value will have a pretty big difference. In our case, Facebook's real asset values (e.g. its computer hardware, office furniture, office building) will pale in comparison to its intangible assets (e.g. the Facebook logo & customer loyalty).

The latest news is that on 3 January 2011, Facebook received a valuation from Goldman Sachs that it's worth $50 billion dollars. That figure is higher than eBay and Yahoo. Of course, Facebook doesn't really have $50B in cold, hard cash - this figure is a comprehensive representation of its total value, including the logo and brand image. Due to this precise nature of valuation, it is reasonable to take this valuation figure with a grain of salt.

We'll have a pretty reasonable idea of the monetary value of Facebook once it issues stocks. This is known as IPO, or Initial Public Offering. The true value of a company is more-or-less reflected in its market value.