AC

Facebook on Wednesday filed to go public in a bid to raise $5 billion with a mammoth stock offering . Facebook's IPO has been eagerly anticipated as a defining moment for the latest Web investing boom. The social-networking company, with more than 800 million members, has redefined the way millions of people worldwide interact and share information on the Internet. A Facebook valuation of roughly $100 billion would rank the company just below McDonald's, which is currently 25th, at $101.5 billion, says Howard Silverblatt at Standard & Poor's. In the S-1 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, the 8-year-old company revealed that it will trade under the ticker symbol "FB" but didn't specify the market in which it will trade. It also detailed its financials for the first time. In 2011, the company's net income rose 65% to $1 billion. Its revenue rose 88% to $3.7 billion. Facebook is also spending more, with expenses more than doubling to $1.96...