How Do You Put a Price on Facebook?

Facebook doesn’t need the money. And investors say the price tag almost doesn’t matter. So how do you put a price on something that many say is priceless?

That’s the task today facing an elite few: Lead underwriter Morgan Stanley, co-underwriters JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, select Facebook executives, and a pricing committee from the board of directors. In the span of just a few minutes around market close, they’ll finally come to a conclusion on what the world’s largest social network is worth.

Speculators have been gambling on that worth for years. Shares have traded on private markets since early 2008, and changed hands last at $43.50 a share in early April, at a valuation of $109 billion. By that measure, expectations set by Facebook’s underwriters, might appear conservative.

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