Facebook may be delaying its initial public offering until late in 2012, according to a news report.

The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, said the IPO was delayed because CEO Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) “wants to wait until next September or later in order to keep employees focused on product developments rather than a pay-out.”

Many of the Facebook employees may be eager to “cash out in an IPO,” the Financial Times (News - Alert) reported. “Zuckerberg hopes to keep such personnel on staff through next summer in order to complete certain product rollouts.”

The IPO had been anticipated in April 2012, or maybe even during 2011 and is among the most anticipated of any in the social media sector. Facebook has been recently valued at more than $66.5 billion. There are those speculating that by the first quarter of 2012 the company could be valued at more than $100 billion, TMCnet reported.

Business Insider reported that Facebook has gotten more than 500 shareholders, so the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC (News - Alert)) will require Facebook to release its financial information in April 2012. Facebook will not have to be listed on a stock exchange at that time, however, The Business Insider said.

Once a company has more than 500 shareholders, it has to release financial results to the public during the first quarter of the next year, according to SEC rules.

In addition, Facebook may have earned revenues of $1.6 billion during the first half of 2011, which is twice of those earned during 2010, Reuters reported. It has about 750 million users, TMCnet said.

In a related matter, Groupon and Zynga (News - Alert), also social media companies, are holding off on IPOs, too, reported the Financial Times.

It appears that some technology companies chose to delay an IPO. Google (News - Alert) delayed its IPO for about six years, and did it only when it “dominated” the search sector, The Financial Times said.