Facebook adds 25 underwriters to hotly anticipated IPO

Facebook Inc. really likes Wall Street.

The social networking giant on the verge of a hotly anticipated initial public offering has added 25 underwriters.

The new banks include Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank, increasing the number of underwriters in the deal to 31. That could give retail investors a better shot at buying Facebook shares.

Facebook made the disclosure in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Menlo Park, Calif., company also doubled its credit line to $5 billion and secured a $3-billion bridge loan to cover taxes for employee stock grants, according to the amended prospectus.

Investors have not cooled on Facebook. Its shares in private market sales give the company an implied value of $100 billion.

Facebook hopes to raise as much as $10 billion in the IPO. The company generated $3.71 billion in revenue last year, most of that coming from online advertising.

Facebook acknowledged Wednesday that 5% to 6% of its 845 million users could be “false or duplicate accounts,” according to some estimates. It also estimated that about 5% of its daily active users may not be that active, just mobile applications automatically connecting to the company’s servers.

Facebook also acknowledged a potential legal dispute withYahoo Inc., which has threatened to go after Facebook if it does not pay licensing fees on Yahoo’s patents.

“We presently are involved in a number of lawsuits, and as we face increasing competition and gain an increasingly high profile, including in connection with our initial public offering, we expect the number of patent and other intellectual property claims against us to grow,” the company said.

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