
Facebook will file for an IPO in May, ahead of full listing on the stock market later this year, according to AllThingsD.
The long-anticipated floatation could raise up to $10 billion for the social network on a company valuation of $100 billion.
In order to make that possible, Facebook must first file for an Initial Public Offering with the Securities and Exchanges Commission and AllThingsD's "multiple sources" say that is imminent.
From there, it may take three or four months, for Facebook to get approval for a full floatation on the stock market.
Recent events may have led to a little more urgency in Facebook's long-in-the-works desire to go public.
Facebook has been criticised in investment circles for not fully cashing-in on its 800 million members.
Also, as AllThingsD points out, Google's decision to integrate Google+ into its search results, rather than other social networks, may damage Facebook, so an injection of cash from Wall Street would be most welcome.
The report also points out that the date of the IPO filing could change "in a New York minute."

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has announced that the English language version of the site will go dark for 24-hours on Wednesday to protest a pair of internet censorship bills.
Wales says the global shutdown will commence at midnight on the Wednesday 18th January, Washington time, to take a stand against the controversial SOPA and PIPA bills. That's 5am GMT.
Instead of the page entries, the site will simply redirect to a single page with a banner stating "The internet must remain free" along with a message explaining the perils of SOPA and PIPA.
"I am just starting to do press interviews about the upcoming blackout of Wikipedia to protest #sopa and #pip ("Protect IP")," said Wales on Twitter.
"This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!
""Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." MLK - on Wednesday, Wikipedia demands," he added in a series of tweets on Monday.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, and Protect Intellectual Property Act currently being debated in the US Senate would give content providers the right to have websites shut down if they believed they were infringing on copyrighted material.
However, the scatter gun approach would likely see innocent parties targeted, while start-ups and IT jobs would be hit hardest if either bill were to be written into law.
Wales believes that SOPA is currently "crippled," albeit not dead, while PIPA remains very much alive.
Many, including Google founder Sergei Brin see the bills as a threat to freedom of speech.
Wikipedia is the latest in a number of high-profile sites to suspend their services in protest. The likes of Reddit, Destructoid and the Cheezburger sites will also go dark.