六月份时，有人对我说Facebook计划在劳动节（美国的劳动节是九月份的第一个星期一—译注）前申请首次公开募股。这些人的消息来源是一位“Facebook内部人士”。自那以来，我已经从不下6位线人那儿，听到上述传闻的不同版本。不幸的是，这些人都不愿说出他们所谓的“内部人士”是谁，所以我也无法求证。更成问题的是，他们提到的IPO时间总是距离“现在”90天——不论这个“现在”是六月份还是昨天。

    所以我已经习惯性的忽略这类传言，特别是鉴于一直到明年5月份都没有任何激励性得监管政策促使Facebook上市。此外，我仍然认为，Facebook将一直保持私营身份，只要美国国会能在今年休会之前修改500名股东这一规则（美国证券交易委员会相关法规规定，非上市公司的股东数量一旦超过了499就必须对外公布公司财务状况——译注）。

    现在，我们有理由相信这家社交网站至少在12月之前不会提交S-1上市申请。

    Facebook的首席运营官谢莉尔•桑德博格预计将在11月底召开的Business Insider Ignition大会上发言。假如Facebook届时申请上市，那她绝不会同意在这次大会上露面。

    美国证券交易委员会（SEC）并未禁止申请上市公司的高管公开发言，但是他们的言论将受到严格的审查。任何可能被视为抢跑的行为都是被禁止的。此外，关于公司的任何评论必须与Facebook上市登记文件中的表述完全一致。哪怕桑德博格只说错了一个收入或用户数字，Facebook将被迫修正申请文件，并重新发布。因此，申请上市期间，公司律师一般建议公司高管保持静默，除非确是因为业务需要（比如公司推出了新产品等）。

    所以，别指望Facebook会在今后90天内申请上市。然而，这之后的90天就说不准了。

    译者：项航

    In June, someone told me that Facebook planned to file for its IPO before Labor Day. Their source was a "Facebook insider." Since then, I've heard variations on the same hearsay by no fewer than six different sources. Unfortunately, none of them will identify their "insiders" for confirmation. More problematic is that the time horizon always seems to be 90 days from "now" -- no matter whether "now" is June or yesterday.

    So I've routinely ignored such rumors, particularly since Facebook doesn't face any regulatory incentive to go public until next May. Plus, I continue to think that Facebook will stay private indefinitely, so long as Congress eviscerates the 500-shareholder rule before adjourning for the year.

    And now we have good reason to believe that the social network won't file its S-1 before December at the earliest.

    Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, is scheduled to speak at the Business Insider Ignition conference at the end of November. There is simply no way she would have agreed to this appearance if she expected her company to be in registration at the time.

    The SEC does not specifically prohibit executives on in-registration companies from speaking in public, but such statements come under extraordinary scrutiny. Anything that could be viewed as front-running would be off-limits, as would any company-specific comments that don't match up exactly to the information in Facebook's registration documents. Were she to misstate a revenue or user figure, the company would be forced to issue an amended filing. It's the reason that company counsel generally tells in-registration execs to stay quiet, unless there is a compelling business case to speak (new product launch, etc.).

    So don't expect Facebook to file for its IPO within the next 90 days. The 90 days after that, however, are fair game.