Facebook raises share price range after strong demand

Facebook has raised the price at which it hopes to sell its shares from $28-$35 to $34-$38, potentially putting its total value above $100bn (£62.2bn).

The company said strong demand had pushed up the price.

A valuation at this level would make it worth more than the US corporate giants Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods

If investors buy the shares at the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1bn through its planned sale of 337.4 million shares.

Despite the strong interest, a Facebook team is continuing to tour the US with an investor road show, a move undertaken by companies to drum up demand ahead of a sale of new shares.

Facebook is expected to reveal the price of its new publicly-traded shares on Thursday with trading expected to begin on Friday, giving those who were not able to secure stock the chance to buy on the open market.

Facebook is set to list on the Nasdaq and its value will rival Amazon's current worth of $100bn.

The eight-year-old social network has 900 million users worldwide and made a profit of $1bn last year.

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will remain in control of the company even after the flotation, controlling more than 57.3% of the voting power through shares he holds and through voting agreements with other shareholders.