PRIVATE INVESTORS have been selling shares in Facebook for $76 each, according to reports today – which would value the company at an astonishing €26.6bn, before the company even considers floating itself on a stock exchange.

The Financial Times today reports that shares in the company, being traded privately because the social networking site has not been floated, were fetching remarkable per-share prices on so-called ‘secondary markets’.

There is a slight premium to such shares, however, because of the fact that private limited companies are limited by law to having a maximum of 500 shareholders.

Even still, if the company was to be floated with shares valued at $76 (€59.88), the company would instantly be worth a remarkable $33.7bn – or about €26.6bn.

By comparison, Yahoo! is worth about $18bn on today’s values, while Microsoft and Google – businesses with far more wide-reaching and diverse – are worth $208bn and $143bn each. Apple is worth $219bn.

Google, when floated, had a value of $1.67bn.

Facebook’s $33.7bn valuation would make its founder Mark Zuckerberg (26) between $6.7bn and $10.11bn, depending on how much of the business he retains ownership of, with varying reports saying he owns 20% to 30% of Facebook.

Facebook said two weeks ago it was likely to postpone its Initial Public Offering – entering a public stock exchange – until early 2012. Some of its senior employees are remunerated in shares, however, and are welcome to sell them on private secondary markets.