Over the next few days, Facebook could file an IPO. Raising as much as $10 billion at a valuation anywhere between $75 billion to $100 billion, it stands to be "one of the biggest-ever U.S. public debuts." What does this mean for investors of the social media mammoth? It means they will make disgusting amounts of money. Lots of it. More than you could possibly imagine. Citing anonymous sources, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners, which invested around $12.5 million each in Facebook in 2006 when the company was valued at around $500 million, would also reap significant returns of around 200 times that would put their stakes in the social network at more than $1.5 billion, said people familiar with the matter. Neither venture firm has reduced its shares in Facebook, said these people, with Meritech having added to its holdings several years ago.

But that's not all. Palo Alto-based venture-capital firm Accel Partner could make "unprecedented" returns if and when Facebook lets loose with their initial public offering. WSJ goes on to point out:

Chief among the beneficiaries would be Palo Alto, Calif., venture-capital firm Accel Partners, which invested $12.7 million in Facebook in 2005 when the company was priced around $100 million. While Accel has since sold a small percentage of its Facebook shares, it could still reap around a 1,000 times return, with its stake potentially worth as high as $9 billion (taking into account dilution and other factors), said people familiar with the matter.

The colossal likely returns from a Facebook IPO—particularly Accel's nearly 1,000 times return and $9 billion potential payday—would be unprecedented in the venture industry, said venture experts. Such returns would exceed those of Google Inc.'s 2004 IPO, when the Web-search company's early venture investors Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which each put $12.5 million into the start-up, saw their investments swell to around $2 billion.


Now with more than 800 million users, Facebook is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. If the Facebook IPO comes to fruition, according to Forbes, it is "widely expected to be one of the biggest in recent years, if not the biggest ever." Brace yourselves.