Facebook will
sell stock in a IPO when the time is right, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in
an ABC TV interview, addressing persistent speculation about its stock
market debut.
Zuckerberg -- who with friends
dreamed up the world's largest social network in a Harvard dorm room --
told ABC he was "quite sure" he had signed no contract handing over
ownership rights to the company, disputing a claim to an 84-percent
interest.
Last month, Paul Ceglia
of Wellsville, New York, sued Zuckerberg and Facebook Inc, claiming a
2003 contract with Zuckerberg to develop and design a website now
entitled him to a majority stake in the privately held company.
"If
we said that we were unsure, I think that was likely taken out of
context," Zuckerberg told ABC's Diane Sawyer. "Because I think we were
quite sure that we did not sign a contract that says that they have any
right to ownership over Facebook."
A
slice of Facebook -- which recently signed up its 500 millionth member
-- is a keenly sought-after piece of real estate. Investors are keen to
get in on a company backed by the likes of Elevation Partners, Digital
Sky and Microsoft and estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
Asked
about when the company might go public, he told ABC News' Diane Sawyer:
"When it makes sense, right. I mean, what we're most focused on is just
building these tools that help people stay connected with the people
that they care about.
"And at some point along the path, I think it'll make sense to have an IPO. But we're not running the company to do that."
Combining
a large audience of Web surfers with innovative online advertising has
become a recipe for super-charged revenue growth in the Internet
business.
Facebook ranks among the
Web's most popular sites, alongside Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft
Corp . The privately held company is also one of the most
closely-watched Web operators by investors to jump onboard a blockbuster
initial public offering.
Sources
have told Reuters it raked in as much as $800 million of revenue in 2009
and made tens of millions of dollars in profit in 2009.