MUMBAI: In a 100-page document sent to a select group of potential investors, Facebook Inc. has hinted that it was preparing to go public sometime next year.

The company said that it plans to increase its number of shareholders above 500 this year, forcing it to begin disclosing reams of financial information or go public by April 2012.
 
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said that he was in no rush to go public but his views have been hotly contested since the company launched an equity offering of as much as $1.5 billion through Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earlier this week.

The strong demand and sharp increase in Facebook‘s value from $10 billion in mid-2009 give Zuckerberg and Facebook’s executives a potentially irresistible incentive to take the fast-growing company public. 
 
As a private company, Facebook isn‘t required to report its revenue, profits or losses, and executive compensation, as publicly traded companies must do.