The Ultimate Guide to Facebook's IPO

Facebook executives have fallen silent. Having filed paperwork on Feb. 1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering, the social network site is now in a “quiet period” where federal rules limit what company executives can say in public.

Behind the scenes, it’s a different story. The Menlo Park (Calif.)-based company is just beginning a months-long slog that involves appeasing regulators, wooing investors, and dealing with endless amounts of paperwork. While it will follow a familiar pattern, this is no routine deal, what with the epic media attention (and possible $100 billion market valuation) a Facebook offering will attract. “When you’re doing one of these offerings that’s high-profile, you know that you’re under a microscope,” says Martin Wellington, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell who worked on the Pandora IPO. “In addition to SEC scrutiny, you expect there will be a high degree of interest from the press, the blogosphere, and the investment community. Everyone working on the deal is going to be particularly careful.”