This Feb. 8 photo shows two workers inside Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook stock is expected to begin trading publicly today.

NEW YORK - Facebook’s initial public offering of stock is one of the largest ever. The world’s definitive online social network is raising at least $16 billion for the company and its early investors in a transaction that values Facebook at $104 billion.

It’s a big windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money.

Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share on Thursday, at the top of expectations. The IPO values Facebook higher than Amazon.com and other well-known companies such as Kraft, Disney and McDonald’s.

Facebook’s stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market sometime this morning under the ticker symbol “FB.” That’s when so-called retail investors can try to buy the stock.

Facebook’s offering is the culmination of a year’s worth of Internet IPOs that began last May with LinkedIn Corp. Since then, a steady stream of startups focused on the social side of the Web have gone public, with varying degrees of success. It all led up to Facebook, the company that’s come to define social networking by getting 900 million people around the world to share everything from photos of their pets to their deepest thoughts.

“They could have gone public in 2009 at a much lower price,” said Nick Einhorn, research analyst at IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital. “They waited as long as they could to go public, so it makes sense that it’s a very large offering.”

Facebook Inc. is the third-highest valued company to ever go public, according to data from Dealogic, a financial data provider. Only the two Chinese banks have been worth more. At $16 billion, the size of the IPO is the third-largest for a U.S. company. The largest U.S. IPO was Visa, which raised $17.86 billion in 2008. No. 2 was power company Enel and No. 4 was General Motors, according to Renaissance Capital.

For the company that was born in a Harvard dormitory and went on to reimagine online communication, the stock sale means more money to build on the features and services it offers users. It means an infusion of funds to hire the best engineers to work at its sprawling Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, or in New York City, where it opened an engineering office last year.

And it means early investors, who took a chance seeding the young social network with start-up funds six, seven and eight years ago, can reap big rewards. Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist who sits on Facebook’s board of directors, invested $500,000 in the company back in 2004. He’s selling nearly 17 million of his shares in the IPO, which means he’ll get some $640 million.

The offering values Facebook, whose 2011 revenue was $3.7 billion, at as much as $104 billion. The sky-high valuation has its skeptics, who worry about signs of a slowdown and Facebook’s ability to grow in the mobile space when it was created with desktop computers in mind. Rival Google Inc., whose revenue stood at $38 billion last year, has a market capitalization of $207 billion.

“There seems to be somewhat of a hype around the stock offering,” says Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

That, of course, is an understatement.

Facebook’s IPO dominated media coverage in the weeks and days leading up to the event. Zuckerberg’s hoodie made headlines as did General Motors’ decision to stop advertising on the site -and rival Ford’s affirmation that its Facebook ads have been effective.

There are a few reasons for the exuberance. First, there’s Facebook’s sheer size and high profile. The company grew from a college-only social network to an Internet phenomenon embraced by legions of people, from teenagers to grandmothers to pro-democracy activists in the Middle East.

Secondly, it’s personal.

“It’s probably one of the first times there has been an IPO where everyone sort of has a stake in the outcome,” Blau says. While most Facebook users won’t see a penny from the offering, they are all intimately familiar with the company, so it resonates as something they understand.

And then there’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who turned 28 on Monday. He has emerged as the latest in a lineage of Silicon Valley prodigies who are alternately hailed for pushing the world in new directions and reviled for overstepping their bounds. He counted the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs among his mentors and he became one of the world’s youngest billionaires – at least on paper – well before Facebook went public. A dramatized version of Facebook’s founding was the subject of a Hollywood movie that won three Academy Awards last year, propelling Zuckerberg even further into the public spotlight.

Though Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares, he will remain Facebook’s largest shareholder. Even after the IPO, he will own 503.6 million shares, or 32 percent of Facebook’s total shares. At the $38 share price, his stake in the company is worth $19.1 billion. Zuckerberg will control the company with 56 percent of its voting stock as a result of agreements he has with other shareholders who promise to vote his way.

The set-up helps to ensure that he and other executives keep control as the sometimes conflicting demands of Wall Street exert new pressures on the company.

True to form, Zuckerberg and Facebook’s engineers are ringing in the IPO on their own terms. The company is holding an overnight “hackathon” Thursday, where engineers stay up writing programming code to come up with new features for the site. On Friday morning, Zuckerberg will ring the Nasdaq opening bell from Facebook’s headquarters.

The $38 share price is the price at which the investment banks arranging the offering will sell the stock to their clients. If extra shares reserved to cover additional demand are sold as part of the transaction, Facebook Inc. and its early investors stand to reap as much as $18.4 billion from the offering.

Follow Barbara Ortutay on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BarbaraOrtutay

In a Sunday, April 15, 2012 photo, gasoline prices are posted at the Midway Plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford, Pa. U.S. consumer prices were flat last month as cheaper gas offset modest increases for food, clothing and housing. The data indicate that inflation remains in check. The Labor Department says the seasonally adjusted consumer price index was unchanged in April, after a 0.3 percent gain in March.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans are starting to see some relief from higher gas prices, a change that could revive the economy in the months ahead.

Consumer prices were flat in April, largely because of a decline in gas prices. Lower prices at the pump may be combining with steady job growth to power more spending on big purchases.

Sales of autos, furniture and electronics all rose in April. And Americans spent more at restaurants and bars – generally a sign of confidence in the economy.

“Consumer spending looks to have started the second quarter on a solid footing,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

Despite the strength in key areas, overall retail sales increased just 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That modest gain followed two stronger months in February and March.

Cheaper gas offset some of the gains in big purchases. The mild winter was also a factor. In the previous two months, it boosted sales in areas such as building materials and gardening supplies. Spending in those categories fell sharply in April.

Still, economists were encouraged by the details in the report. Excluding autos, gas station sales and spending on building materials, so-called core retail sales increased 0.4 percent, a modest gain.

“All the categories that showed gains are positive signs for consumer spending going forward,” said Leslie Levesque, senior economist at IHS Global Insight. “The categories where there were declines were mainly a payback for the warmer weather.”

The positive signs come six months before voters will decide whether to give President Barack Obama a second term in an election focused heavily on the economy. Obama is trying to convince voters that the economy is on an upswing. His Republican rival, Mitt Romney, counters that the unemployment rate is a still-high 8.1 percent and argues that Obama’s policies are weakening the recovery.

Recent job growth has contributed to higher consumer confidence. Employers have added 1 million jobs in the past five months, though the pace of gains has slowed recently.

Another reason to be optimistic: gas prices are falling after spiking earlier this year. The national average dropped to $3.73 per gallon on Tuesday, about 17 cents cheaper than a month ago, according to a survey by AAA. Sales at gas stations fell 0.3 percent in April.

“We had expected gas prices to be elevated until Memorial Day,” Levesque said. “The fact that they have already retreated so much is a very good sign. It alleviates the strain on consumers’ pockets.”

Cheaper gas also kept inflation tame. Gas prices fell a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in April, the Labor Department said. That offset mild increases in the cost of food, housing, and clothes.

Overall, the consumer price index was flat. Excluding volatile food and gas costs, so-called “core” prices rose 0.2 percent.

In the past 12 months, prices have risen 2.3 percent, the smallest gain in more than a year.

Constructora de Carreteras MYGSA S.A. De C.V. alleges that Coeur d’Alene Mines has been unresponsive to claims that the company failed to pay for rock fragmentation work performed in Chihuahua, Mexico, as part of an eight-year contract between the two companies.

MYGSA, which purchased approximately $3 million in specialized equipment specifically for the job, is pushing for a resolution in absence of a response from Coeur d’Alene Mines. The case has been pending for more than a year and a half in the Eighth Civil Court of the Judicial District of Morelos in Chihuahua, Chihuahua.

“We provided services to Coeur d’Alene Mines according to our agreement and are asking to be compensated per the terms of our mutually agreed upon legal contract,” said Mario A. Rodriguez Morales of MYGSA. “Unfortunately, we have had to request assistance from the courts in resolving in a timely manner what was clearly spelled out by the terms of the contract.”

MYGSA is seeking more than $25 million in compensation.

Coeur issued a response Friday.

“There is an outstanding legal matter in Mexico regarding a claim made by MYGSA in late 2010 regarding work performed at the Palmarejo silver-gold mine in Chihuauhua, Mexico,” the release said. “We maintain that this claim has no merit and we will continue to vigorously pursue the matter in the Mexican courts.”

Coeur d’Alene Mines has missed several deadlines established by Eighth Civil Court Judge Jose Humberto Rodelo Garcia, including one earlier this month related to subpoenas requesting responses from company executives, according to MYGSA.

Several senior Coeur d’Alene Mines officials were subpoenaed, including President and CEO Mitchell J. Krebs, K. Leon Hardy, senior vice president and COO, and Donald J. Birak, senior vice president of exploration, Kelli Kast and Dennis E. Wheeler. None have responded, according to court documents.

Coeur d’Alene Mines planned to use the crushed rock by MYGSA as underground backfill at Palmarejo Mine, but has not paid for services provided or fulfilled its responsibilities under the contract signed in 2009, MYGSA alleges.

Palmarejo Mine, a silver and gold mine, is the company’s largest contributor of sales and operating cash flow, according to a description on the Coeur d’Alene Mines website. It produced $513 million in total metal sales in 2011, or about half of the company’s total metal sales.

Justin Stormogipson hoists a sign in protest of Bank of America mortgage practices Wednesday in front of the Post Falls branch.

POST FALLS – Jess Sifford said it’s the blue collar working class, not corporate America and CEOs, that could use some breaks and bailouts.

That’s why the Post Falls man was among 13 who participated in a protest along Seltice Way at the Post Falls branch of Bank of America on Wednesday night due to the corporation’s alleged handling of foreclosures and other practices. The protest was part of a nationwide rally organized by MoveOn.org.

“Bank of America is the least likely to help out with the mortgage crisis,” said Sifford, adding that he’s not a MoveOn.org member but a concerned citizen. “We need a bailout, not big corporations.”

The assistant manager of the Post Falls Bank of America referred a call seeking comment to company spokeswoman Britney Sheehan, who declined to comment on the protest.

“We respect people’s right to protest,” Sheehan said of the company’s reason for not commenting.

Sifford said the Post Falls branch was chosen as the protest site simply because it’s centrally located in the region.

“This is a bi-partisan movement and our intent is to not harm this branch,” Sifford said. “But we still want to get our message across to the corporate level.”

Sifford said he recently tried to modify his home loan with Bank of America, but “was run through the ringer.”

“This is a good time for me to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” he said. “It’s near and dear to me.”

Groups organizing the protests call themselves “99 Percent Power,” meaning they represent the lower- and middle classes and not the wealthy.

“There’s a disappearance of the middle class, jobs are being shipped overseas and a lot of people are only making minimum wage,” said Post Falls’ Terry Sherven, a protester. “If that’s our future, then welcome to Third World America.”

Some protests of the bank’s handling of foreclosures, its investments in payday lenders and investments in the coal industry were less peaceful elsewhere.

Four people were arrested Wednesday as they tried to force their way into the annual shareholders’ meeting in Charlotte, N.C. Police used a new ordinance to declare the gathering an extraordinary event subject to special restrictions.

Hundreds of people gathered on the streets as dozens of police officers worked to contain the protest.

On stage, CEO Brian Moynihan’s attempts at sidestepping hard questions or deflecting answers were met with loud jeers. Attendees shouted “amen” after anti-Bank of America statements were made by other shareholders.

At least 20 shareholders spoke at the meeting. Almost all disapproved of various Bank of America practices.

Moynihan said the bank has about 50,000 people dedicated to working with troubled homeowners and has modified more than 1 million loans, but some borrowers say the company doesn’t call back or has lost documents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Visitors to Silverwood Theme Park race down a "flume" on a log ride as the Corkscrew roller coasters overlooks the ride in the background.

COEUR d’ALENE – Not even Gary Norton knew what the river card would be, but that didn’t stop the entrepreneur from going all in.

That was in 1988, and the self-made businessman turned Silverwood founder was around $1 million in the red after his first season operating the amusement park he had just built.

“We didn’t really know what we were getting into,” said Norton, guest speaker at the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce’s Upbeat Breakfast on Tuesday. “That was the crazy part.”

Especially since Silverwood started on a whim, in remote North Idaho.

Actually, it started from a collection of antique trains and planes Norton started purchasing after he had sold his business, ISC.

But after one season in the new venture, it was either time to fold “or just go all in,” he said.

Norton went all in.

Twenty-five years later, and Silverwood keeps adding attractions. It has paid $86 million in local payroll and payroll taxes on its way to contributing $1 billion in economic impact across the region. Not bad for the park that has grown into the largest amusement playland in the Pacific Northwest.

Unsurprisingly, North Idaho has developed into a top tourism destination of its own right during that time, said Jerry Jaeger, Hagadone Hospitality president.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort, owned by Hagadone Hospitality, opened around a year before Silverwood did and together the two top-end destinations have helped turn tourism into a thriving industry in North Idaho.

For their part, Norton and Jaeger were awarded the inaugural Kyle M. Walker Champions of Tourism Award by the chamber and visitors bureau. Tuesday’s presentation was also in recognition of National Tourism Week this week.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep this thing growing and get a lot more smiles out there,” Norton said of staying committed to the family-friendly destination.

Norton’s business model is based on two things: Exceeding expectations and attention to details. It can be as simple as loading up a single serve ice cream cone to statue sized proportions as an example of the former, and the lush, landscaped gardens on the grounds as proof of the latter.

“We’re trying to build more than just a park with rides but a real park you can enjoy,” he said.

As tourism continues to play a huge role in the region’s economy, Norton isn’t satisfied with just letting things be. Like The Resort, which recently underwent a huge renovation for its silver anniversary, Silverwood keeps improving. This year, the entrance to the park will be all new. This, after turning the once-summer-only spot into a terrifying haunted house every autumn. Tourism, like any business, is a “painting you keep working on,” he said.

The Kyle Walker award was named after Walker, known as ‘Mr. Coeur d’Alene,’ who served as the chamber manager from 1948 to 1971.