Facebook Prices 421M Shares At $38

In what probably isn't surprising news, social media darling Facebook

has priced 421.2 million shares at $38 apiece, the high end of the expected $34-$38 range. That means the California-based company will raise almost $16 billion in what will be the largest even technology sector IPO. Facebook shares will commence trading Friday on the Nasdaq. By raising $16 billion, Facebook's IPO thwarts the $1.9 billion raised by Internet search giant Google

eight years ago in what has been viewed by some experts as the last great Silicon Valley IPO. Today, Google has a market cap north of $205 billion. At the top end of Facebook's planned IPO range, the social network's market value amounted to more than $104 billion,

. That gives Facebook a higher market value than about half of the 30 firms in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. With more than 900 million users, Facebook had revenue of $4 billion for the year ending March 31, 2012. That number is expected to cross $6 billion this year.