June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. named David Ebersman chief financial officer, tapping a former Genentech Inc. executive to help manage the world’s most popular social- networking site’s growth.

Ebersman, 39, will oversee Facebook’s finance, accounting, investor relations and real estate functions. He will formally start in September, Palo Alto, California-based Facebook said in a statement today.

Closely held Facebook, with more than 200 million users worldwide, said in March it was looking for a finance chief with experience running a public company. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard University dropout, has hired other managers from public companies, including former Google Inc. executive Sheryl Sandberg.

“We received a lot of interest in the CFO position,” Zuckerberg said in the statement. Ebersman “was Genentech’s CFO while revenue tripled, and his success in scaling the finance organization of a fast growing company will be important to Facebook.”

After working as a research analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., Ebersman spent almost 15 years at Genentech, working his way up from business development to the chief financial officer position. He left in April, after Genentech was acquired by Roche Holding AG.

Zuckerberg said last month he expects a Facebook IPO, though it isn’t an immediate focus for the company. Facebook has sold shares in several private transactions since its start in 2004. Last month, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies paid $200 million for less than 2 percent of Facebook, valuing the company at $10 billion.

Other investors are Microsoft Corp., Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and venture-capital firms Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 29, 2009 15:07 EDT