Facebook roadshow triggers hopes of IPO on May 18 Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the world's largest social networking site, is expected to play some role in what is known as a "roadshow." The Wall Street Journal reported that Cheryl Sandberg, a former Google executive who is now Facebook's chief operating officer, and David Ebersman, Facebook's finance director, may play bigger roles in presenting the investment case for a company founded less than a decade ago. The plan to kick off the roadshow on Monday suggests Facebook shares will be priced on May 17 and begin trading on the Nasdaq the following day. Facebook's top management may find some investors are wary of getting caught up in the hype of an initial public offering (IPO) that could value Facebook at $100bn (£617bn). Should it achieve that valuation, that will be more than twice the value of car maker Ford. The social networking site has hired at least 10 banks to help manage the IPO. When the company filed its initial paperwork for the flotation in February, it stunned investors by revealing that profits had more than tripled over the past three years to $1bn. However, last month the company said that profits in the first three months of the year dropped 12pc to $205m as it spent money investing in data centres and adding employees. Facebook's dual-class share structure, which gives Mr Zuckerberg control of voting rights on all key decisions, is also something prospective investors will have to accept if they decide to buy the shares. It emerged that Facebook's board only found out about the site's $1bn acquisition of photo-sharing site Instagram last month after Mr Zuckerberg had agreed a deal. Facebook declined to comment.