While not the first, Paul Kedrosky's prediction today that Facebook will file for an IPO is certainly the most specific. He suggests the social utility will file by this August. Here are his reasons:

1) The company is growing gangbusters
2) Doing north of $100m in revenues (allegedly)
3) Is at the epicenter of the social networks and advertising trends.

I would like to see a Facebook IPO to resolve the valuation debate. But, I don't think it will happen as quickly as Kedrosky suggests.

For one thing, I haven't heard or read about investment bankers making the pilgrimage to the company's Palo Alto offices seeking an underwriting slot. Also, I wonder if current CEO Marc Zuckerberg would want to retain his position if Facebook were publicly traded? It's possible, but a glance at the company's job page shows it isn't even seeking accounting, corporate control, finance or investor relations personnel; the sorts of people a pre-IPO company would be searching for.

All this adds up to a Facebook IPO filing in late 2008.

For more on Facebook IPO speculation, see:
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Tags: facebook, accel, ipo, vc, venture+capital