Mark Zuckerberg gets a standing ovation, kicks off pre-IPO hackathon

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, received a massive standing ovation from Facebook employees as he stepped on stage to kick off tonight’s hackathon at the company’s HQ. The hackathon will conclude with Zuckerberg ringing the Nasdaq bell from Facebook’s office, which will mark the opening of the company’s IPO.

Billed as the largest IPO for a tech company and the third-largest IPO ever, Facebook is aiming to raise $16 billion, valuing the company at over $100 billion. The IPO will also make many Facebook employees millionaires overnight. Facebook is the world’s largest online social network with over 900 million users globally and over 45 million users in India alone. Check out more photographs from the hackathon from inside Facebook’s HQ here.