FB playboy founder to become S'porean?
Facebook Inc co-founder Eduardo Saverin has renounced his US citizenship, according to an Internal Revenue Service report, days before the company's initial public offering.
The news, first published by Bloomberg on Friday, was based on an IRS notice late in April that named people "who have chosen to expatriate."
Facebook plans to raise as much as US$10.6 billion in an IPO that is expected to value the company at as much as US$96 billion.
The offering could leave Saverin, who once owned 5 per cent of the company, with a hefty capital-gains tax bill.
Saverin has sold enough of his Facebook stake that he does not appear in IPO filing documents that list shareholders who own 5 per cent or more of the company, though his holdings are still believed to be substantial.
"Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time," Saverin's spokesman told the US paper.
His decision to leave US is independent of the upcoming IPO and the potential tax liability, the spokesman said.
According to a report from The Los Angeles Times, tax experts say it is a "shrewd tax move" that will save him billions.
Which means his stake could amount to about $4 billion after the IPO, the report said.
To put it in perspective, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, stands to receive a tax bill of more than US$1 billion when the social networking website makes its IPO.
Source: Agencies
Published May 13 2012
Comments (0)