Facebook on Friday is to make the richest-ever share offering for a technology firm, raking in billions of dollars it could wield to dethrone Google as king of the Internet.

Facebook stock priced at $38 per share was to begin trading under the symbol “FB” on the Nasdaq, giving the world’s leading social network a dizzying value of $104 billion at its initial public offering (IPO) of stock.

Investors were keen to own pieces Facebook, which grew from a Harvard dormitory project in 2004 to an online community with more than 900 million denizens.

Facebook reportedly planned to go public hacker style with an all-night software bending bash to culminate with co-founder Mark Zuckerberg remotely ringing the Nasdaq opening bell.

Employees were to join in a “hackathon” to start late Thursday at Facebook’s offices in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park and continued until the IPO at which 421 million shares of common stock will be sold.

Facebook itself is selling 180 million and holders of previous shares are selling 241 million.

Facebook was on course to raise $16 billion with the IPO, behind only that of financial giant Visa in 2008, according to Renaissance Capital. The addition of a possible stock “over-allotment” could boost the total to some $18.4 billion.

At a market worth of $104 billion, Facebook would be among the most valuable US firms, ahead of sector giants like Amazon ($98 billion) and Cisco ($89 billion), and more than twice the value of Ford Motor Co. ($38 billion). But it remains behind Google ($203 billion) and Apple ($495 billion).

Under the share plan, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg will hold 55.8 percent of the voting power, and some 18.4 percent of the value of Facebook. The 28-year-old controls the firm through a dual class stock structure.

Wall Street and investors around the globe have been girding for a Facebook IPO frenzy.

In the past few days, Facebook boosted the estimated price for the shares, and added to the number of shares being offered from insiders.

London bookmakers anticipated a stampede. At the betting firm Spreadex, clients have been speculating that shares could rise above $56 after their first day.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believed that despite the large number of shares being offered, Facebook stock price will climb quickly in trading.

“I would guess it trades a lot higher, and settles in the mid-40s (dollars),” Pachter told AFP.

Spreadex noted that among other tech IPOs, LinkedIn rose 109 percent the first day while Groupon surged 31 percent. Social game maker Zynga lost ground on its first day.

But Spreadex spokesman Andy MacKenzie said that “we have had some customers holding back based on their belief that Facebook shares may well fall in value after the furor over the initial launch has died down.”

Lou Kerner, founder of The Social Internet Fund, said he expects a strong response.

“US institutional demand has been good, the retail and global demand has been overwhelming,” he said.

London-based Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said Facebook may have a hard time living up to lofty expectations but pointed out that it is “a relatively developed company which can display ‘real’ income and profit.”

“There are extremely high expectations for the company’s prospects and perhaps on that basis it deserves the punchy valuation it has been given, the brokerage said in a note to clients.

But the brokers said Facebook faces challenges including how to make money from the growing base of mobile users.

The IPO’s net proceeds to the company were estimated at $6.4 billion. The rest of the cash goes to Facebook insiders and others who made early investments in the social network, and to cover the IPO costs.

The Wall Street Journal said 57 percent of shares will be from insiders, which is an unusually high percentage. Under Wall Street rules, investors have to wait six months to sell any shares not offered at the IPO.

Some analysts predicted Facebook’s stock price will jump quickly to $44 a share but the long-term outlook is less clear.

At the heart of the debate about the wisdom of owning a piece of Facebook is how much revenue it takes in.

Revenue vaulted to $1.06 billion in the quarter which ended March 31 — an improvement year-over-year, but down about six percent from the previous quarter.

According to Experian Hitwise, Facebook.com received nine percent of all US Internet visits in April 2012. It had 1.6 billion visits a week and averaged more than 229 million US visits a day for the year-to-date.

Greek banks, struggling to stay afloat after two years of unending crisis, are back in the firing line, beset by rumours of a run on deposits and facing more uncertainty as the country holds fresh polls.

The problem goes beyond Greece, with the Spanish government trying to stabilise a banking sector crippled by soured property loans, but given its other problems over implementing a tough EU-IMF debt bailout, any bad news adds to fears of its exiting the eurozone.

Earlier this week, President Carolos Papoulias told political party leaders that 700 million euros ($890 million) had been withdrawn from Greek banks on Monday, adding to the turmoil on the markets.

A senior banking source, however, downplayed the issue on Thursday.

From the May 6 polls to Monday, there had been withdrawals of 800 million euros, the source said, noting that in March there was an inflow of 1.0 billion euros, with April estimated at the same amount.

The source, who asked not to be named, told AFP that 18 billion euros in funds due under the EU-IMF bailout for the recapitalisation of Greek banks was expected by Tuesday or Wednesday.

There has been a steady withdrawal of funds from the Greek banks since 2009 as the global financial crisis pushed the country to the edge, forcing it to seek a first EU-IMF rescue in 2010.

Some of the money no doubt has gone abroad — London real estate firms have reported an upsurge in Greek interest in the past 18 months — as people seek safety from a feared euro exit.

Such rumours fire up volatility in the markets and can be very hard to nail down, a feature of nervous times highlighted Thursday after reports that Spain’s fourth-largest bank, Bankia, had been hit by a client run.

It is clear that deposit levels at Greek banks have fallen sharply in the past three years — to 165.35 billion euros at end-March from 237.53 billion euros at end-December 2009, according to central bank figures.

At the same time, however, deposits by individuals and companies were higher, than in January 2005 when they totalled 136.9 billion euros and in January 2001, when the euro was launched, at 116.4 billion euros.

Analysts said the damage of Monday’s withdrawal news was then compounded by reports that the European Central Bank was cutting concessional funding for several Greek banks — suggesting Greece was being let go.

When the ECB clarified the position — the Greek banks concerned were moving over to another mechanism of funding under the Bank of Greece — “things calmed down,” the senior banking source said.

“We are in a vicious circle,” said Philippe Waechter, director of economic research at Natixis AM.

“The more the Greek banks cause concern, the more people are tempted to withdraw their money, which only makes worse the capital problems of some of the lenders,” Waechter said.

Once the rumours start, it is notoriously difficult to track them down and they can disappear as quickly as they surface.

One story had it that Greek banks had limited any withdrawal to 50 euros — one AFP journalist took out 580 euros in one go Thursday without any problem.

As for queues at banks, that did not seem to be the case Thursday in central Athens, with people both sceptical and guarded on the subject.

“I have not taken out any money because I do not have any,” said Alexis, 68, smiling broadly, telling how his pension has been cut in half as a result of the government’s austerity measures imposed under the EU-IMF bailout deal.

Some analysts say the markets may be especially susceptible to such rumours now because there is no certainty that the June 17 polls will produce a government that can live with the EU-IMF accord.

The latest opinion poll shows the radical leftist Syriza party, which wants to drop the deal and its austerity measures, in first place with 24.5 percent of the vote, up from its 16.78 percent showing on May 6 when it came second.

A Pulse poll for Pontiki satirical weekly said the conservative New Democracy party and the socialist Pasok, the mainstream parties who supported the EU-IMF debt rescue, would get 21.5 percent and 15.5 percent respectively.

New Zealand’s Scott Dixon led the practice session for Saturday’s Indianapolis 500 pole qualifying, turning the second-best lap of the week at the famed 2 1/2-mile (4 kilometer) oval.

Honda-powered Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, made a lap in 40.3428 seconds at an average speed of 223.088 mph. The only faster practice lap came on Tuesday when American Marco Andretti made the trip around in 40.2367 seconds.

“It’s nice,” Dixon said. “We have all taken this week a little slower. We’re just working on the race car. We’ve made big improvements on how it feels. We made the car feel a lot nicer to drive, especially in traffic.”

The speed chart showdown intensifies this weekend with Saturday’s battle for pole position in the May 27 race. Sunday will see the remaining cars fill the 33-car field with slower cars bumped from the lineup once the limit is reached.

Only 33 of 37 entered cars have passed technical inspection approval so far to take to the track.

US rookie Josef Newgarden, who spun on Wednesday after setting that day’s fastest lap, was also among Thursday’s quickest with a lap at 222.709 mph with countryman Graham Rahal achieving his best speed of the week at 222.080 mph.

Australian Will Power, the IndyCar season points leader in quest of his first Indy season title and Indy 500 victory, was fourth on Thursday at 221.932 mph. He expects the new IndyCar chassis to produce a tight Indy 500 race day.

“You can run closer with this car than with the old car,” Power said. “It punches a massive hole in the air, so the tow effect is huge. You could be leading doing 217 (mph) and the guy behind you could be 5 mph quicker.

“You have to be second, if not first. It’s hard to say if you can put a move on. It will be a very tight race because I don’t think anyone will get left behind.”

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais and England’s Katherine Legge received good news when race officials approved an engine switch for the Dragon Racing team, changing from Lotus power to a Chevrolet motor in hopes of finding more speed.

“The team has done a great job,” Legge said. “They are all really tired, and they worked really hard to put the engine in and get all the bits on to get us out.”

“With the way the car is now, it’s fine,” Bourdais said. “We can drive flat out and not even think about it, which is what you want around here.”

American Ryan Palmer fired a bogey-free six-under par 64 to seize a one-shot lead over German Alex Cejka and Australian Marc Leishman after round one of the Byron Nelson Championship.

Palmer lost last year’s Nelson title in a playoff to countryman Keegan Bradley. Palmer birdied the last hole to force a playoff but found water on the first extra hole and lost the $6.5 million US PGA event at TPC Four Seasons.

Palmer began off the 10th tee. He birdied the par-4 11th, had back-to-back birdies at the par-4 15th and par-5 16th and hit back-to-back birdies again at the par-3 second and par-4 third. He added another at the par-3 fifth.

“It’s great to be in this spot again,” Palmer said.

“Continuation from last year, that’s what’s cool about the whole thing. I knew everything was going in the right direction. It was a matter of putting it all together at once.”

Palmer was disappointed at hooked tee shots on his last four holes but salvaged pars on them all.

“That’s what the short game is there for and fortunately it was good,” said Palmer.

Leishman had back-to-back birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth but capped the front nine with his lone bogey of the day. His big jump up the leaderboard came on “awesome” eagles at the par-4 11th and par-5 16th.

“On 11, I was trying to drive it up toward the right bunker, pulled it a little bit, right in front of the green about 10-foot off the edge, easy chip, (30-feet) down grain,” Leishman said.

“On 16, I think about 245 (yards), hit a 2-iron to about 8 feet, easy putt, straight up, rolled that in and it was a good day.”

Leishman has not cracked the top 15 in 11 US PGA starts this season, his best result a share of 17th at Riveria in February.

“I drove the ball a lot better than I have been. I think I only missed two or three fairways,” he said. “Haven’t been hitting a lot of fairways this year so far. I drove it well and holed the par putts that kept the round going.

“I have actually felt like it’s been there for about four or six weeks. It has been really close and I feel like I’ve been playing all right, just not getting a whole lot out of my game. I feel like I’m doing the right things.”

Bogey-free Cejka closed strongly to share second, making a birdie at the par-3 fifth then making a run of four birdies in five holes starting at the par-3 13th and ending at the par-3 17th.

“I played pretty solid, kept the ball in the fairways and gave myself a lot of chances,” Cejka said. “I had actually a good back nine, where I made a couple of good birdies, so I’m pleased with the start.”

Matt Kuchar, last week’s Players Championship winner, was among seven players sharing fourth on 66, two off the pace.

Bradley, who followed last year’s Nelson triumph by winning his first major title three months later at the PGA Championship, was among 13 players on 67.

Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah, in Cannes with an Arab Spring drama, defiantly vowed Thursday that the Islamists jockeying for power back home would never succeed in stifling art.

“In a context where cinema is being attacked as a sin in Egypt by so-called Islamist parties, this film is not so much a political commitment as a commitment to cinema,” he said after a press screening of “After the Battle”.

Artists and liberals in the Arab state are concerned that the Islamists who have emerged as the strongest political force in the new Egypt will seek to curtail artistic freedom.

“Our presence here in Cannes is a wonderful message to all those who want to put an end to art in Egypt,” Nasrallah said, translating from Arabic the words of lead actor Bassem Samra, who sat next to him at a festival press conference.

Veteran director Nasrallah’s two-hour film focuses on the messy aftermath of last year’s Arab Spring, when Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the epicentre of a revolt that led to the ousting of long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The movie, the sole overtly political work among the 22 films competing for the Palme d’Or top prize, kicks off with what came to be known as the Battle of the Camel, when men on horses and camels charged into the crowd of protestors.

It then hones in on one of the riders, anti-revolutionary Mahmoud, played by Samra, and his complicated interaction with a middle-class, free-thinking young woman called Reem, played by Mena Shalaby.

The film touches on issues like class, gender and corruption and provides a portrait of the people of Nazlet, who live in the shadow of the pyramids and traditionally made their living off the tourist trade that dried up after the revolution.

Nasrallah told reporters here that he had funding in place for a film before last year’s revolution, but when the demonstrations started he realised he had to make a movie about it instead.

“Our emotions were focused on these events and I saw that this was the film,” said the director.

He set to work on the Egyptian-French co-production without a script and persuaded his actors to take part without knowing where their roles would take them.

Last year’s Cannes festival saw the controversial film “18 Days” premiered during a day honouring Egypt and its revolution.

The film, consisting of 10 shorts by different directors, covers the popular revolt that began on January 25 and led up to the fall of Mubarak’s regime after more than 30 years in power.

Egypt’s first post-revolution presidential elections are due on May 23-24, with the contest narrowing down to a choice between secularists linked to the old guard and Islamists who hope to repeat their success in parliamentary elections after Mubarak’s ouster.

Hardline Islamists have frequently used the country’s courts to punish movie directors and artists whom they accuse of insulting Islam.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood organised on Thursday a kilometres-long rally to support its candidate in next week’s presidential election, displaying the potent network of activists it counts on to win.

Islamist activists stood side by side for kilometres through Cairo and north of the capital holding posters of Mohammed Mursi, who sketchy polls suggest is trailing behind in the May 23-24 election.

Mursi was the movement’s fallback choice after the election committee disqualified the Islamists’ deputy leader Khairat El-Shater over a previous military court conviction.

But the group, which controls parliament and the senate, has now thrown its full weight behind Mursi, the head of its political arm the Freedom and Justice Party.

Posters of the bearded former engineer have sprung up across the country as Brotherhood members take to the streets to persuade Egyptians to vote for him.

On Thursday, the organisation’s grassroots network, cultivated for decades under secular leaning presidents that officially banned the Brotherhood, was a reminder that Mursi could not yet be discounted from the race.

“We are very optimistic,” said one the activists, Ahmed Zaki, when asked of Mursi’s chances. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have done all this.”

Zaki, a marketing manager, said regional offices had organised what the Islamists called the largest human chain in history. There was no way of immediately confirming their claim.

The queue alternated between groups of men and women of all ages, holding posters that read: “Mohammed Mursi for president.”

The decision to run a candidate, after the Brotherhood had vowed not to, was controversial within the group, and Mursi is less known and popular than the enigmatic Shater.

But activists such as Zaki said the entire organisation was backing him.

“One of the things that distinguishes us is that we don’t venerate individuals, we venerate a programme,” he said.

As he was talking, a passer-by stopped to tell him that he wished Shater was still in the race, saying: “He has charisma.”

Mursi’s main rival is former senior Brotherhood member Abdelmoneim Abul Fotouh, whom the group expelled after he announced his nomination despite the Brotherhood’s having decided at the time not to run a candidate.

Analysts say the Islamists have lost popular support following a lacklustre performance in parliament and senate after elections earlier this year.

The Islamists argue that they have little room for policymaking in the legislature because power rests with the ruling military council, which took charge after an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

“People have not yet tried the Brotherhood,” said another activist, Abdel Salam Saqr, holding a poster of the bearded and bespectacled Mursi.

“Parliament hasn’t been given a chance to do anything yet,” he said.

The Brotherhood says it reversed its decision not to field a presidential candidate after it failed to convince the military to sack the government.

Polls published by an Egyptian think tank and the government show Amr Mussa, a former foreign minister and Arab League chief, Fotouh and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq at the front of the race.

There is no credible terror threat to the NATO summit set to get underway Sunday in Chicago but security forces will nonetheless be on high alert, a spokesman for the FBI said Thursday.

“Obviously Chicago in the post-9/11 world has been considered a prime terrorist attack (target),” FBI Special Agent Ross Rice told AFP.

“We’re a major metropolitan area. We’re a transportation hub. We’re a financial hub and our current president of the United States considers Chicago to be his hometown.”

Adding to the threat is the fact that during Obama’s term in office Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki were killed by US forces and Obama also oversaw the Afghan surge and drone missile attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, Rice said.

“So there is a potential threat and then you add to that the heads of state of 40 to 60 different countries are all going to be here,” Rice said during a media tour of a joint information center set up ahead of the summit.

The FBI has been working with the US military and other intelligence agencies to determine if there are any “attacks or incidents planned in connection to the summit,” Rice said.

“Right now there are no credible threats involving the NATO summit. We’re going to continue to monitor so that that situation won’t change,” he added.

The Chicago police will be out in force in anticipation of the thousands of protesters expected to take to the streets.

Police and protest organizers have vowed that there will be no repeat of the trouble that erupted at G20 summits in London and Toronto or the riots that scarred Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

However the police department will have sound cannons and officers in riot gear ready to deploy should serious problems occur.

The decision to move the G8 summit — set for Friday and Saturday — from Chicago to the presidential retreat of Camp David outside Washington is expected to lessen the intensity of demonstrations in Obama’s adopted home town.

The daughter of Ukraine’s detained former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko told US lawmakers Thursday she still feared for her mother’s life, and implored them to “keep the pressure” on Kiev to help free political dissidents.

Speaking via live video link from Kiev to a House of Representatives hearing in Washington, Yevgenia Tymoshenko also warned that Ukraine’s powerful current rulers will do “anything possible” to manipulate results of the country’s upcoming October election.

“I am very afraid for my mother’s life now in the hospital,” where she is surrounded by medical personnel who are under intense pressure from the regime, Yevgenia told the so-called Helsinki Commission on security and cooperation in Europe.

The opposition leader has been struggling with medical problems and complained over rough handling by her guards. She briefly went on a hunger strike to protest her detention.

“We are just asking you please to keep the pressure on,” Yevgenia said.

“Please don’t leave us alone, because in Ukraine there’s not enough power in people, not strong enough to fight against this injustice.”

Tymoshenko has been imprisoned since August, when she was given a seven-year sentence for abuse of power. The case has drawn international outrage with observers saying her prosecution was politically motivated.

President Viktor Yanukovych said Tymoshenko and 13 former senior officials from her government had been accused of various crimes.

Yevgenia said a Ukrainian court recently delayed hearing her mother’s prison sentence appeal, so her lawyer was now presenting the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

“Those who have been imprisoned absolutely must be released,” said Republican Chris Smith, the commission’s chairman and a fierce human rights defender.

He told Yevgenia that he was hoping to soon bring a congressional delegation to Kiev, and that he was expecting the United Nations to “robustly” weigh in on Tymoshenko’s detention.

The former premier recently had a chance to speak with US officials, her daughter said.

“My mother outlined the critical situation that she is in, legally, politically, medically and in a humanitarian way,” Yevgenia said.

She added that her mother had strong worries about the upcoming election.

“The regime has accumulated so much financial power via different schemes (and) they will use this financial resource to do anything possible to falsify the elections,” she said.

Also testifying at the hearing was David Kramer, president of democracy advocacy group Freedom House, who led a delegation to Ukraine last month and met with Yanukovych and other officials.

Kramer said the October polls will be “a critical test” of Ukraine’s ability to conduct elections which meet the criteria of international monitors.

Dwain Chambers and David Millar were cleared for the London Olympics on Thursday after the British Olympic Association officially rescinded its lifetime ban for athletes found guilty of doping offences.

The formality followed the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling which declared the BOA’s controversial bye-law to be in direct contravention of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code.

“Following a discussion period, during which members of the National Olympic Committee reiterated their support for the decision taken by the BOA board to defend the Eligibility Bye Law before CAS, it was agreed that the bye-law would immediately be rescinded in order for the BOA to comply with the CAS ruling,” said a BOA statement.

“The BOA will now notify WADA of this decision in writing.”

Former European 100m champion Chambers, who won 60m bronze in this year’s world indoor event in Istanbul last month, was banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic steroid THG in 2004.

Cyclist Millar also served a doping ban in 2004.

Despite Thursday’s decision, Chambers and Millar will still have to meet the qualifying standards for the Olympics.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer reached the Rome Masters quarter-finals on Thursday, but fourth seed Andy Murray suffered another setback in his French Open plans when he crashed out to Richard Gasquet.

Murray, who lost 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-2 to the Frenchman, revealed that he has been carrying a back problem since December but declined to go into details on the symptoms or its treatment.

However, he did admit to facing a race against time with the French Open starting in Paris a week on Sunday.

“I’ve felt it for some months, but I haven’t had a chance to take a pause. I’ve tried not to make it any worse, but the muscles get tired from compensating,” said Murray, who skipped last week’s Madrid Masters because of the problem.

“I’ve got a lot of big events coming and there’s not that much time to rest any niggles. Hopefully when the French comes, the goal is to be in peak condition.”

Top seed Djokovic, the defending champion, staged a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 comeback win over Argentine Juan Monaco while second seeded Nadal was ruthless with fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers, winning 6-1, 6-1.

Djokovic will tackle Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saw off Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-1, for a place in the last four.

“Conditions were very difficult for us. I finally settled into the match,” said Nadal, who will next face Tomas Berdych after last week’s Madrid finalist beat Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

Federer, the winner of the Madrid Masters, defeated fellow veteran and former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 with a dozen aces and four breaks of serve.

The Spaniard took the clash to a third set with a late break before the third-seeded Swiss set-up a last-eight match with Italy’s Andreas Seppi who saved six match points in a 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6) win over Stanislas Wawrinka.

Federer improved to 47-3 since last year’s US Open semi-finals, winning seven of his past 10 tournaments and returning to number two in the world.

Spanish sixth seed David Ferrer knocked out French 11th seed Gilles Simon 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) and will tackle Gasquet.

With gusts of wind making life a challenge in all matches, Djokovic had to smash a racquet to bits to get himself motivated after losing the opening set to Monaco.

The outburst came after the Argentine had finally converted a fifth set point in the blustery conditions.

The Serb went down a break in the second set, but got it back and then broke again to level the match at a set apiece.

It took a break for 5-3 in the final set to put Djokovic into position to close out victory on his second match point.

“It was difficult to play in the wind, but it was the same for both of us,” said Djokovic.

“He was able to deal with the conditions better at the start, but after a set and a half I started to play better and change my strategy.

“I never expected an easy match against him on his favourite surface. I felt I started hitting the ball better. I found my rhythm.”

In the women’s event, world number one Victoria Azarenka withdrew before her match against Dominika Cibulkova with a right shoulder injury while defending champion Maria Sharapova beat Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, the fourth seed, stopped Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Madrid winner Serena Williams, the ninth seed, advanced over Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-3, 6-1.

The American admitted that while she is aiming to win Rome for the first time in a decade, she is well into the countdown for Roland Garros.

“I’m getting nervous. I feel good and I’ve had a lot of practice on clay,” she said.

“Today I was running so much, I was ready to play and feeling good. I wasn’t tired at all.”

Sister Venus knocked out US Open champion, and fifth seed, Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3 and will face Sharapova on Friday.