Facebook is coming close to its much anticipated IPO, seeking one of the largest in history. The company is targeting a time frame of April to June 2012, and is looking to raise around $10 billion. This will bring the company’s total worth to more than $100 billion. If Facebook is successful, it will be one of the largest offerings ever, topping stalwarts such as Hewlett-Packard and 3M Co.

While Facebook was hoping to kick start its IPO some time ago, management was not ready to discuss the matter.  In fact, Facebook’s shied away from IPO talks for several years now, only indicating its true intentions in the past few months.

“We’re not going to participate in speculation about an IPO,” said Facebook spokesman Larry Yu.

Moreover, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had expressed reluctance to do an IPO, keeping Facebook private longer than many suspected he would.  But now the conversations are spreading like fire, and we are hearing that Facebook is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, considering IPO filing dates shortly thereafter.

We heard that Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman has been leading the company’s IPO talks with Silicon Valley bankers.  Interestingly, bankers are also aggressively pursuing Facebook’s management.

So far, only a few IPOs having valued over $10 billion have been successful, including that of Visa Inc., General Motors, and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. for $19.7 billion in 2008, $18.1 billion in 2010, and $10.6 billion in 2000 respectively.

This offering of $10 billion by Facebook is the largest IPO by any technology or Internet company in history.  While industry analysts and investors are really optimistic about this IPO, some board members and top executives have privately acknowledged that it would leave the company at a severe disadvantage, since they would have most of the liability that comes with being a public company, but lose out on the fundraising benefits of a public offering.