Facebook CEO in no rush for IPO

NEW YORK
Thu Mar 4, 2010 9:01am EST
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and founder laughs outside the Sun 
Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho July 9, 2009. REUTERS/Rick WilkingNEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is in no rush to take the popular social-networking site public, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old CEO told the Journal in an interview that the company would eventually launch an initial public offering (IPO), but added "we are definitely in no rush."
"If you don't need that capital, then all the pressures are different, and the motivations (to go public) are not there in the same way," Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.
Zuckerberg told Reuters in May last year that an IPO was a few years out. In November, Facebook announced a dual-class stock structure to ensure voting control by existing owners, but reiterated it had no plans yet to go public.
Facebook, which lets users connect and share information with friends online, has emerged as one of the Internet's most popular destinations, challenging established powerhouses like Yahoo Inc and Google Inc.
Facebook counts around 400 million users and has had large investments from the Microsoft Corp and from Russian investment company Digital Sky Technologies.
(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Lincoln Feast)