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Separate article is required for Facebook Inc. like google Inc. as it has now filed for IPO and has is goining to be a listed company on Stock exchange.Company is different thing from a website.
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{{About|the corporation|the website|Facebook|other uses}}
#REDIRECT[[Facebook]]
{{Infobox dot-com company
|company_name = [[Facebook Inc.]]
|company_logo = [[File:Facebook.svg|215px]]
|company_type = [[Publicly held company|Public]]
|foundation = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts, United States ({{Start date|2004}})<ref name="Growth" />
|founder = {{Unbulleted list|[[Mark Zuckerberg]]|[[Eduardo Saverin]]|[[Dustin Moskovitz]]|[[Chris Hughes]]}}
|location = [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]], California, U.S.
|locations =
|area_served = Worldwide
|key_people = {{Unbulleted list|[[Mark Zuckerberg]] (CEO)|[[Sheryl Sandberg]] (COO)|[[David Ebersman]] (CFO)|[[Donald E. Graham|Donald Graham]] (Chairman)}}
|industry = Internet
|revenue = {{Increase}} US$ 3.71 [[1000000000 (number)|billion]] (2011), up from $1.97b (2010)<ref name="sec.gov">{{cite web | url=http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htm | title=S-1 Registration Statement | publisher=Securities and Exchange Commission | date=February 1, 2012 | accessdate=February 1, 2012 | author=SEC}}</ref>
|operating_income =
|net_income =
|owner =
|num_employees = 3000+ (2011)<ref name="pressinfo">[http://newsroom.fb.com "Press Info"], Facebook. Retrieved November 17, 2011.</ref>
|parent =
|divisions =
|subsid =
|company_slogan =
}}
'''Facebook Inc.''' is an American [[Multinational corporation|multinational]] Internet company which runs the Social networking website [[Facebook]]. Facebook filed for an [[initial public offering]] on February 1, 2012.<ref name=form-s1>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htm]</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Facebook|Timeline of Facebook}}
Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook, on October 28, 2003, while attending [[Harvard University|Harvard]] as a sophomore. According to ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'', the site was comparable to [[Hot or Not]], and "used photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the 'hotter' person".<ref name="autogenerated2007">{{Cite news |author=Locke, Laura |url= http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1644040,00.html |title= The Future of Facebook |newspaper =Time |location =New York |date= July 17, 2007 |accessdate= November 13, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357292 |title=Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website |first=Alan J. |last=Tabak |date=February 9, 2004 |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson |location =Cambridge, MA |accessdate=November 7, 2008 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20050403215543/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=357292 |archivedate=April 3, 2005}}</ref>

[[File:MarkZuckerberg.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Mark Zuckerberg]] co-created Facebook in his [[Harvard University|Harvard]] dorm room.]]
To accomplish this, Zuckerberg [[Hacker (computer security)|hacked]] into the protected areas of Harvard's computer network and copied the houses' private dormitory [[ID card|ID]] images. Harvard at that time did not have a student "[[Facebook (directory)|facebook]]" (a directory with photos and basic information), though individual houses had been issuing their own paper facebooks in at least the mid-1980's. Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online.<ref name="autogenerated2007"/><ref name="fastcompany.com">{{cite news |author= McGirt, Ellen |url= http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/open_features-hacker-dropout-ceo.html |title= Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Hacker. Dropout. CEO |work= Fast Company |location =New York |date=May 1, 2007 |accessdate= November 5, 2009}}</ref>

The site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating [[copyright]]s, and violating individual privacy, and faced expulsion. Ultimately, however, the charges were dropped.<ref name="facemash survives">{{cite news |accessdate=February 5, 2009 |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=350143 |title= Facemash Creator Survives Ad Board |work=The Harvard Crimson |location =Cambridge, MA |date=November 19, 2003 |author=Kaplan, Katherine}}</ref> Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an [[art history]] final, by uploading 500 [[History of Rome|Augustan]] images to a Web site, with one image per page along with a comment section.<ref name="fastcompany.com"/> He opened the site up to his classmates, and people started sharing their notes.

The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new Web site in January 2004. He was inspired, he said, by an editorial in ''The Harvard Crimson'' about the Facemash incident.<ref name="Hoffman, Claire">{{Cite news |accessdate=February 5, 2009 |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21129674/the_battle_for_facebook/ |title=The Battle for Facebook | newspaper=Rolling Stone | location = New York |date=June 28, 2008 |author=Hoffman, Claire |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080703220456/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21129674/the_battle_for_facebook/ |archivedate = July 3, 2008 |deadurl=yes}}</ref> On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.<ref name="skepticism">{{Cite news|accessdate=April 30, 2008 |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118539991204578084.html?mod=googlenews_wsj |title=Judge Expresses Skepticism About Facebook Lawsuit |work=The Wall Street Journal | location = New York |date=July 25, 2007 |author=Seward, Zachary M. }}</ref>

Six days after the site launched, three Harvard seniors, [[Cameron Winklevoss]], [[Tyler Winklevoss]], and [[Divya Narendra]], accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build a social network called [[ConnectU|HarvardConnection.com]], while he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product.<ref name="zuckerberghacked">{{Cite news |first= Nicolas |last=Carlson |title= In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg Broke Into A Facebook User's Private Email Account |date=March 5, 2010 |url= http://www.businessinsider.com/how-mark-zuckerberg-hacked-into-the-harvard-crimson-2010-3 |work=Business Insider |accessdate =March 5, 2010}}</ref> The three complained to the ''Harvard Crimson'', and the newspaper began an investigation. The three later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling.<ref name=nytb>{{Cite news |work=New York Times blog |url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/judge-ends-facebooks-feud-with-connectu/index.html |date=June 28, 2008| title=Judge Ends Facebook's Feud With ConnectU |author=Stone, Brad}}</ref>

Membership was initially restricted to students of [[Harvard College]], and within the first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the service.<ref>{{Cite news |accessdate=March 7, 2008 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia |title= A brief history of Facebook |work=The Guardian |location= London |date=July 25, 2007 |author=Phillips, Sarah}}</ref> [[Eduardo Saverin]] (business aspects), [[Dustin Moskovitz]] (programmer), [[Andrew McCollum]] (graphic artist), and [[Chris Hughes]] soon joined Zuckerberg to help promote the Web site. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to [[Stanford University|Stanford]], [[Columbia University|Columbia]], and [[Yale University|Yale]].<ref name="timeline">{{Cite press release |accessdate=March 5, 2008 |url=http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline |title= Company Timeline |publisher=Facebook |date= January 1, 2007}}</ref> It soon opened to the other [[Ivy League]] schools, [[Boston University]], [[New York University]], [[MIT]], and gradually most universities in Canada and the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |accessdate=June 13, 2008 |url=http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/11/facebook-opens-up-cx_rr_0911facebook.html |title=Open Facebook |work=Forbes |location =New York |date= September 11, 2006 |author=Rosmarin, Rachel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.tuftsdaily.com/2.5541/1.600318 |title= Online network created by Harvard students flourishes |work =[[The Tufts Daily]] |first = Lananh |last= Nguyen |date= April 12, 2004 |location= Medford, MA |accessdate= August 21, 2009}}</ref>

Facebook was [[Incorporation (business)|incorporated]] in mid-2004, and the entrepreneur [[Sean Parker]], who had been informally advising Zuckerberg, became the company's president.<ref name="NYT_260505">{{Cite news | author=Rosen, Ellen | title = Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13&nbsp;Million | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/business/26sbiz.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=thefacebook+parker&st=nyt | newspaper=The New York Times | date = May 26, 2005 | accessdate = May 18, 2009 }}</ref> In June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to [[Palo Alto, California]].<ref name="timeline" /> It received its first investment later that month from [[PayPal]] co-founder [[Peter Thiel]].<ref name="beware">{{Cite news |accessdate=April 30, 2008 |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/beware-facebook/2008/01/18/1200620184398.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2 |title=Why you should beware of Facebook |work=The Age |date=January 20, 2008 |location=Melbourne}}</ref> The company dropped ''The'' from its name after purchasing the [[domain name]] facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.<ref>{{Cite news |accessdate=June 13, 2008|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/01/facebook_domain_dispute/| title=Facebook wins Manx battle for face-book.com |work =The Register | location = London |date=October 1, 2007|author=Williams, Chris }}|</ref>

==Offices==
[[File:1601californiaavelobby.jpg|thumb|Entrance to Facebook's previous headquarters in the [[Stanford Research Park]], [[Palo Alto, California]]]]

===Mergers and acquisitions===
{{Main|List of acquisitions by Facebook}}
On November 15, 2010, Facebook announced it had acquired the domain name fb.com from the [[American Farm Bureau Federation]] for an undisclosed amount. On January 11, 2011, the Farm Bureau disclosed $8.5&nbsp;million in "domain sales income", making the acquisition of FB.com one of the ten highest domain sales in history.<ref>{{cite news |title=FB.com acquired by Facebook |url=http://namemon.com/news/1-latest-news/115-fbcom-acquired-by-facebook |date=January 11, 2011 |work=NameMon News}}</ref>

===Menlo Park executive offices===
In early 2011, Facebook announced plans to move to its new headquarters, the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, California.<ref name="parr_ben_facebooks_new_offices_feb_2011" />

===Operations===
A custom-built [[data center]] with substantially reduced ("38% less") [[IT energy management#Server and data center power management|power consumption]] compared to existing Facebook data centers opened in April 2011 in [[Prineville, Oregon]].<ref>{{cite news |accessdate=April 16, 2011 |date=April 16, 2011 |title=Zuckerberg makes surprise appearance at new Prineville, Ore. Facebook data center |agency=Associated Press
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/zuckerberg-makes-surprise-appearance-at-new-prineville-ore-facebook-data-center/2011/04/16/AFT4NamD_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |deadurl=yes}}{{dead link|date=May 2011}}</ref>

===Initial public offering===
Facebook filed their S1 document with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on February 1, 2012. The company filed for a $5 billion [[initial public offering]] (IPO), making it one of the biggest in tech history and the biggest in internet history.<ref>{{cite news |accessdate=February 1, 2012 |date=February 1, 2012 |title=Facebook Officially Files for $5 Billion IPO |agency=KeyNoodle
|url=http://www.keynoodle.com/facebook-officially-files-for-5-billion-ipo/}}</ref> The IPO will value Facebook between $75 and $100 billion.<ref>http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-01/zuckerberg-stake-worth-up-to-28-4-billion-in-facebook-s-ipo.html</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/facebook-files-for-an-i-p-o/ | work=The New York Times | first=Evelyn M. | last=Rusli | title=Facebook Files for an I.P.O | date=February 1, 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal box|Companies|Internet}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Ambient awareness]]
* [[Cyberstalking]]
* [[Google Inc.]]
* [[List of social networking websites]]
* [[List of virtual communities with more than 100 million users]]
* [[Six degrees of separation]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=N|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Human–computer interaction]]
[[Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States]]
[[Category:Publicly traded companies of the United States]]

Revision as of 14:02, 21 February 2012

Facebook Inc.
Type of businessPublic
FoundedCambridge, Massachusetts, United States (2004 (2004))[1]
HeadquartersMenlo Park, California, U.S.
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)
Key people
IndustryInternet
RevenueIncrease US$ 3.71 billion (2011), up from $1.97b (2010)[2]
Employees3000+ (2011)[3]

Facebook Inc. is an American multinational Internet company which runs the Social networking website Facebook. Facebook filed for an initial public offering on February 1, 2012.[4]

History

Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook, on October 28, 2003, while attending Harvard as a sophomore. According to The Harvard Crimson, the site was comparable to Hot or Not, and "used photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the 'hotter' person".[5][6]

Mark Zuckerberg co-created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room.

To accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into the protected areas of Harvard's computer network and copied the houses' private dormitory ID images. Harvard at that time did not have a student "facebook" (a directory with photos and basic information), though individual houses had been issuing their own paper facebooks in at least the mid-1980's. Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online.[5][7]

The site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy, and faced expulsion. Ultimately, however, the charges were dropped.[8] Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final, by uploading 500 Augustan images to a Web site, with one image per page along with a comment section.[7] He opened the site up to his classmates, and people started sharing their notes.

The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new Web site in January 2004. He was inspired, he said, by an editorial in The Harvard Crimson about the Facemash incident.[9] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.[10]

Six days after the site launched, three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com, while he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product.[11] The three complained to the Harvard Crimson, and the newspaper began an investigation. The three later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling.[12]

Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, and within the first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the service.[13] Eduardo Saverin (business aspects), Dustin Moskovitz (programmer), Andrew McCollum (graphic artist), and Chris Hughes soon joined Zuckerberg to help promote the Web site. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale.[14] It soon opened to the other Ivy League schools, Boston University, New York University, MIT, and gradually most universities in Canada and the United States.[15][16]

Facebook was incorporated in mid-2004, and the entrepreneur Sean Parker, who had been informally advising Zuckerberg, became the company's president.[17] In June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to Palo Alto, California.[14] It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.[18] The company dropped The from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.[19]

Offices

Entrance to Facebook's previous headquarters in the Stanford Research Park, Palo Alto, California

Mergers and acquisitions

On November 15, 2010, Facebook announced it had acquired the domain name fb.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation for an undisclosed amount. On January 11, 2011, the Farm Bureau disclosed $8.5 million in "domain sales income", making the acquisition of FB.com one of the ten highest domain sales in history.[20]

Menlo Park executive offices

In early 2011, Facebook announced plans to move to its new headquarters, the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, California.[21]

Operations

A custom-built data center with substantially reduced ("38% less") power consumption compared to existing Facebook data centers opened in April 2011 in Prineville, Oregon.[22]

Initial public offering

Facebook filed their S1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 1, 2012. The company filed for a $5 billion initial public offering (IPO), making it one of the biggest in tech history and the biggest in internet history.[23] The IPO will value Facebook between $75 and $100 billion.[24][25]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Growth was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ SEC (February 1, 2012). "S-1 Registration Statement". Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  3. ^ "Press Info", Facebook. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ a b Locke, Laura (July 17, 2007). "The Future of Facebook". Time. New York. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
  6. ^ Tabak, Alan J. (February 9, 2004). "Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. Archived from the original on April 3, 2005. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
  7. ^ a b McGirt, Ellen (May 1, 2007). "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Hacker. Dropout. CEO". Fast Company. New York. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  8. ^ Kaplan, Katherine (November 19, 2003). "Facemash Creator Survives Ad Board". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Hoffman, Claire (June 28, 2008). "The Battle for Facebook". Rolling Stone. New York. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved February 5, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Seward, Zachary M. (July 25, 2007). "Judge Expresses Skepticism About Facebook Lawsuit". The Wall Street Journal. New York. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  11. ^ Carlson, Nicolas (March 5, 2010). "In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg Broke Into A Facebook User's Private Email Account". Business Insider. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  12. ^ Stone, Brad (June 28, 2008). "Judge Ends Facebook's Feud With ConnectU". New York Times blog.
  13. ^ Phillips, Sarah (July 25, 2007). "A brief history of Facebook". The Guardian. London. Retrieved March 7, 2008.
  14. ^ a b "Company Timeline" (Press release). Facebook. January 1, 2007. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  15. ^ Rosmarin, Rachel (September 11, 2006). "Open Facebook". Forbes. New York. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  16. ^ Nguyen, Lananh (April 12, 2004). "Online network created by Harvard students flourishes". The Tufts Daily. Medford, MA. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  17. ^ Rosen, Ellen (May 26, 2005). "Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  18. ^ "Why you should beware of Facebook". The Age. Melbourne. January 20, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  19. ^ Williams, Chris (October 1, 2007). "Facebook wins Manx battle for face-book.com". The Register. London. Retrieved June 13, 2008.|
  20. ^ "FB.com acquired by Facebook". NameMon News. January 11, 2011.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference parr_ben_facebooks_new_offices_feb_2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "Zuckerberg makes surprise appearance at new Prineville, Ore. Facebook data center". The Washington Post. Associated Press. April 16, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)[dead link]
  23. ^ "Facebook Officially Files for $5 Billion IPO". KeyNoodle. February 1, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  24. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-01/zuckerberg-stake-worth-up-to-28-4-billion-in-facebook-s-ipo.html
  25. ^ Rusli, Evelyn M. (February 1, 2012). "Facebook Files for an I.P.O". The New York Times.