Facebook lifts price range for $100bn IPO

The social network had been targeting between $28 and $35 a share, valuing the company at up to $96bn, but has now raised its top-end ambition to $104bn after being inundated with requests for its shares from potential investors.

Facebook will sell 337.4m shares in its IPO on Thursday, marking the biggest technology flotation in history and immediately catapulting Facebook ahead of companies like Disney and Ford in valuation terms.

The value of the company is expected to surge even higher when trading in its shares start on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday, under the ticker FB, despite concerns about its long-term business model.

Nearly two thirds of Americans who actively invest in the stock market think Facebook would be overvalued at $100bn, according to a poll by CNBC and the Associated Press. Billionaire Warren Buffett, arguably the world's most succesful investor, has said he will not be buying shares in the company.

Nonetheless, Facebook's IPO was already oversubscribed last week, leaving some institutional investors that had placed large orders scrabbling around syndicate desks for more shares so they could increase their stakes.

Some of the social network's underwriters were reportedly closing their books early on Tuesday because they had no shares left to sell.

Facebook's road show, which got underway last week, appears to have overcome anxieties over its corporate governance and potential growth.

The social network warned last week that the surge in people accessing Facebook on their mobiles is threatening the company's long-term financial prospects, because it has not yet worked out how to monetise that usage.

Mr Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook from his bedroom at Harvard, ruffled feathers by wearing a "hoodie" sweater on Facebook's roadshow. He has turned down an invitation to go to ring the Nasdaq bell in New York on Facebook's first day of trading - opting to ring it remotely from Facebook's Cupertino headquarters instead.

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Judge gives NY man 2 weeks on Facebook lawyer fees

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- A New York man suing for half ownership of Facebook has two weeks to either pay more than $90,000 in court-awarded fees to the social networking site's lawyers or show a judge why he can't.

The fees cover the time Facebook's lawyers spent filing paperwork to get Paul Ceglia (SEHG'-lee-uh) to comply with orders to turn over materials as part of his lawsuit against the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

A U.S. magistrate in Buffalo gave Ceglia 14 days from Thursday to either pay or produce bank accounts, tax returns and other documents to show why he can't.

The order says Ceglia's failure to comply could bring even more sanctions, including the lawsuit's dismissal.

Ceglia's lawyer couldn't immediately be reached by phone or email for comment.

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Yahoo escalates patent battle with Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo is bringing out more artillery in its patent battle with Facebook.

It is adding new allegations of intellectual property theft to its six-week-old lawsuit against Facebook. In court papers filed Friday, Yahoo Inc. now says Facebook's online social network infringes on 12 of its Internet patents, up from 10.

Yahoo also denied allegations that it has been infringing on 10 of Facebook's patents and accused its rival of engaging in shady behavior.

Among other things, Yahoo says Facebook violated an agreement between the two companies to notify each other of possible patent infringements before filing a court claim.

"We remain perplexed by Yahoo's erratic actions," Facebook said in a statement. "We disagree with these latest claims and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously."

Yahoo questioned Facebook's integrity in the new filing in San Francisco federal court. It said Facebook recently bought several patents for the sole purpose of counter-suing Yahoo and then guessed which Yahoo services might rely on the technologies covered by the intellectual property rights.

"Unless Facebook has unlawfully acquired Yahoo confidential business information, Facebook could not have developed a good-faith basis for many of the infringement allegations in its counterclaims," Yahoo's lawyers wrote in the papers.

Shortly after Yahoo filed its lawsuit March 12, Facebook bought 750 patents from IBM Corp. And on Monday, Facebook agreed to pay $550 million for 650 patents that Microsoft Corp. had just bought from AOL Inc.

The acrimony between Yahoo and Facebook is spilling out as Facebook is preparing to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering of stock that is expected to be the richest in Silicon Valley history.

Yahoo's decision to sue Facebook has been widely perceived in Silicon Valley as a desperate grab for a piece of the IPO action.

Once an Internet powerhouse, Yahoo first was eclipsed by online search leader Google Inc. and in recent years has been losing more traffic and advertising to Facebook. The shift has siphoned revenue away from Yahoo, with impacts including 2,000 layoff notices earlier this month, and it has depressed the company's stock price.

Yahoo shares gained four cents Friday to close at $15.57. The stock hasn't traded above $20 since September 2008.

Yahoo hired a new CEO, Scott Thompson, at the start of 2012 in its latest attempt to engineer a turnaround. Thompson, Yahoo's fourth CEO in less than five years, is hoping he can boost the company's stock by getting Facebook to pay patent royalties through a settlement or court ruling. But if there's no truce, the legal skirmish could last years.

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Summary Box: Yahoo expands Facebook lawsuit

LEGAL SKIRMISH: Yahoo is expanding its allegations of intellectual property theft against Facebook. In court papers filed Friday, Yahoo Inc. says Facebook's online social network is infringing on 12 of its Internet patents. That's up from the 10 alleged violations that Yahoo cited when it initiated the lawsuit March 12.

GETTING NASTIER: Yahoo denied allegations that it's also infringing on Facebook's patents and accused its rival of engaging in shady conduct. Facebook said it's perplexed by Yahoo's "erratic actions."

MORE DRAMA LOOMS: The acrimony is spilling out as Facebook prepares to raise $5 billion in a highly anticipated initial public offering of stock.

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