Facebook's hotly-anticipated stock offering will begin trading Friday morning at $38 a share, near the top of the possible range the company has discussed. Facebook's IPO is expected to raise $16 billion, which would put the company's valuation at $100 billion -- the highest valuation of any company in history at the time of its IPO.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal wealth may actually shrink on the first day of trading. His net worth is currently at $16.5 billion, but Forbes calculates that number will briefly drop to $15.5 billion.

[cnbc.]

Facebook filed its IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon, announcing its intention to sell 337 million shares at between $28 and $35 a pop in the biggest Internet stock offering since Google went public in 2004.

The $11.8 billion IPO would put the total valuation of the company at an astounding $77 to $96 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, 27, stands to gain as much as $17.6 billion in the IPO, which would make him richer than Microsoft's Steve Ballmer.

[abc / bloomberg.]