Mark Zuckerberg and others to sell $5.5 billion in Facebook IPO

By Jessica Guynn

May 3, 2012 12 AM PT

Facebook is about to create some overnight liquid millionaires and billionaires as they cash in on the company’s initial public stock offering later this month.

Chief Executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and investors plan to sell as much as $5.5 billion in stock in the hotly anticipated IPO. They will sell 157.4 million shares for as much as $35 apiece, according to a regulatory filing Facebook filed Thursday.

Zuckerberg will sell 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares. Most of the proceeds will go to paying taxes for exercising stock options.

The IPO is also giving early investors a chance to cash in including Accel Partners, which invested in Facebook in 2005. The venture capital firm put $12.2 million into Facebook and owns 11.3% of the company’s Class B shares. That stakes is now worth billions.

Among those also selling shares: Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, and LinkedIn Chairman and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. They are selling part, not all, of their stakes.

Co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is not selling any shares.

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