Global markets - not to mention social media networks - are buzzing with talk of Facebook's upcoming initial public offering (IPO).
A share sale could value the world's largest social network site at as much as US$100 billion (Dh367.32bn), according to press reports.
Facebook is reportedly looking to raise up to $10bn in the sale, which it plans to use to fight off competition from the likes of Google. The US search engine giant - one of Facebook's key rivals - last June launched a competing product called Google+.
Facebook could file papers for the IPO as early as this week, according to The Wall Street Journal.
If it goes ahead, the deal is likely to rank as one of the largest-ever IPOs in the technology sector. The social network, which was created by the computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg, would also become one of the world's largest publicly-traded companies.
While the Facebook IPO is the talk of Silicon Valley, there are few precedents available to help to predict how Gulf investors may react to an IPO in Facebook.
One market analyst, who did not wish to be named, said there were few, if any, similar stocks traded on local markets.
"There are no comparable technology companies, in either Egypt or Saudi Arabia," he said.
Despite few comparisons on regional markets, one of the Middle East's most prominent investors has already signalled interest in global social media sites.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Arabian billionaire, attracted attention at the end of last year when it was learned he had invested $300 million in Twitter. That investment bought Prince Alwaleed an estimated 3.75 per cent stake in the microblogging site, based on a total valuation of about $8bn.
Use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter is on the rise in the Middle East.
According to the Arab Social Media Report, published recently by the Dubai School of Government, the number of Facebook users in the Arab world soared to 36 million last year, an increase of 68 per cent.
The survey also found there were more than 652,000 active Twitter users in the Arab region.
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