Sheryl Sandberg: A Facebook IPO Is 'Inevitable'

Today, LinkedIn officially started trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, Facebook may not be too far behind in its own public offering. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke briefly about the possibility of a Facebook IPO at Reuters Global Technology Summit today, saying that a public offering of Facebook shares is “inevitable.” Reuters reports that Sandberg declined to comment on when an IPO would take place.

As stated in Reuters’ account of her remarks, Sandberg said: “It’s a process that all companies go through. It’s an inevitable process for us, the next thing that happens…People used to ask us if we were going to get sold. People have stopped asking that question — we’re not … No one is buying us, we’re going public.” She also said that LinkedIn’s public offering “validated the importance” of the social networking business.

Facebook is reportedly meeting with bankers to discuss IPO size and time frame for an offering. It’s been thought that the social network will go public by April 2012, but it could happen before this date.