Facebook officially filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a forthcoming $5 billion initial public offering.

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Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg reiterated the themes on Sunday that the company’s initial public offering will produce jobs and global change, but could those remarks endanger plans to take the social network public?

The comments occurred during a CNBC-moderated debate on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which the Facebook executive co-chaired. Sandberg previewed similar themes in interviews and speeches in the days leading up to the annual global confab.

Rumors are swirling that Facebook will papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as this Wednesday. The federal agency has strict rules regarding public stock offerings and comments made by a company during the weeks leading up to an IPO.

Sandberg is smart — an economist by trade –and she surely would have been advised by the company’s attorney’s about what was and wasn’t allowed under SEC rules prior to her remarks at Davos.

But some of the comments seem close to the line, and if that’s the case, the SEC could rule to postpone a public offering. Here’s what she said regarding the IPO and also privacy issues during the debate:

If this [IPO] is seen as an opportunity for jobs and for people to use their work to change the world that’s what we want to be a part of. The new digital divide is the difference between people who have access to free internet and people whose access is closed.

I believe in intellectual property, but the role that democratic governments are playing in how much freedom of expression and how much regulation there will be could potentially stop that.

A video of her speaking appears at the bottom of this post. Let us know in the comments section what you think about her remarks at Davos.

Zynga has increased the amount of money it plans to raise in its initial public offering to $1.15 billion, according to an amended filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Facebook stock is the most watched asset on SecondMarket, a venue for trading shares of privately-held companies.
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Using Facebook to solicit potential investors is frowned upon by the Securities and Exchange Commission, even if the investment involves a cold beer on a hot summer day.
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Facebook might not have to disclose its finances to the public next April — if the Securities and Exchange Commission raises the maximum number of shareholders for nondisclosing companies.
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A one-page investment profile appears to have gone out to investors who expressed interest in Goldman Sachs’ offering of Facebook shares. No one at the companies can officially confirm nor refute reports from sources that requested anonymity when leaking details to the media. If this deal weren’t private, we’d have a lot more certainty about what’s going on.
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Demand for Facebook shares has reached such a frenzy among Goldman Sachs clientele that the bank reportedly plans an early end to soliciting interest from would-be buyers.
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Goldman Sachs’ $450 million investment would have the giant social network to continue its growth without having having to publicly report financial information — unless the Securities and Exchanges Commission changes its rules.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission’s probe into trading of Facebook shares on private marketplaces has some asking whether the regulator might pressure the social network to have an initial public offering.

An article in The New York Times says the SEC gave Facebook permission to grant restricted stock to its employees without having to list them publicly and make the financial disclosures required of public companies.

Federal law draws the line between public and private at 500 shareholders. Facebook obviously has more than twice that number of employees, but the SEC might be concerned with how many stakeholders aren’t employed by the social network.

The auctions on SecondMarket and SharesPost of Facebook holdings are currently limited to professional investors. But new funds that own some of these shares potentially give access to a wider array of buyers.

Even so, these funds still have some prerequisites about the minimum net worth who can buy in. That combined with the rules of SecondMarket and SharesPost could conceivably slow down the growth in the number of shareholders to a level acceptable to the SEC.

Or maybe not. That’s why the regulator’s asking questions right now. Perhaps the SEC’s timing will complement other legal developments so that any pressure for a Facebook IPO would kick in after the Winklevoss twins go away.

Oral arguments for the twins’ appeal of the $65 million settlement begin next month, and the issue going before the court concerns allegations of securities fraud. Those are two words that no one wants to see in an IPO prospectus.

Do you think the SEC’s investigation of Facebook stock trades on private markets will lead to regulatory pressure for an IPO?