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A Facebook logo is shown at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto. REUTERS

Facebook is expected to introduce its much anticipated public offering in May this year.

Citing anonymous sources, the All Things Digital blog has reported that Facebook's IPO is expected in the third week of May. This will mean that the company must file its IPO documents within the next month, given that the review by the Securities and Exchange Commission usually takes about three to four months. Facebook executives were reportedly in internal discussions in late November over when to file its IPO papers.

The social media giant's IPO is expected one of the largest tech offerings ever. The company is reportedly considering a US$10 billion offering that would value it at more than US$100 billion.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has long resisted a public stock offering in order to retain control of Facebook's development as long as possible. Rumors about Facebook's IPO have been heard for quite some time, but the speculation has intensified following tech-based IPOs of Groupon, Zynga and Jive Software over the past several months.

Facebook's reach is enormous, and it has more than 800 million active users.