Facebook Moves Toward 2012 I.P.O.

Facebook has pledged to either sell shares to the public by April 2012 or publicly file its financial data, according to an offering memorandum from Goldman Sachs sent to prospective investors in the social networking company. The company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., posted $355 million in profit on $1.2 billion in revenue during the first nine months of 2010.

The news of Facebook’s potential I.P.O. answers a question that received much attention since  news emerged that the Securities and Exchange Commission had started an inquiry into the rapidly growing market into trading in the private shares of Facebook.

Since DealBook broke the news of the S.E.C.’s inquiry, there has been much speculation over whether Facebook is running afoul of a rule that requires companies with more than 499 shareholders to publicly report its financial results.