New York, May 18 (IANS): Facebook Thursday set the price for its initial public offering (IPO) at $38 per share.

The price came one day before Facebook begins to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange Friday under the symbol "FB".

At $38 dollars a share, the world's No.1 social network company will sell 421 million shares, raising about $16 billion, the largest ever among all internet companies.

The price will also give the eight-year-old startup a valuation of $104 billion, the biggest of all time, Xinhua reported.

If a greenshoe option for underwriters is exercised, which means a 30-day window for banks to sell additional 63 million shares, Facebook could raise $18.4 billion.

In the last two days, Facebook has filed two documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise the price range of its upcoming IPO and the amount of shares it will sell, underlining the strong demand among investors to own a piece of the hot red stock.