As Facebook prepares for its multibillion-dollar initial public offering (IPO) next month, it sheds light on how companies – including local ones – decide whether to go public or not.

Memphis-based pharmaceutical company GTx Inc. went public in 2004 and local paper producer Verso Paper Corp. held its IPO in 2008, but the overall number of publicly traded companies both locally and nationally has dropped over the past two decades.

2. Facebook Leaning Toward Nasdaq, Reports Say - Monday, April 09, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook will list its shares with Nasdaq, according to media reports.

That would be a big win for the Nasdaq, which competes fiercely with NYSE Euronext Inc., especially for an initial public offering as large as Facebook's, pegged at $5 billion.

3. Yelp Looking for $12 to $14 per Share in IPO - Monday, February 20, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Online review service Yelp rated its own business Thursday, setting an IPO target of $12 to $14 per share that could value the 7-year-old company as high as $840 million.

4. Status Update: Facebook to Go Public, Raise $5B - Thursday, February 02, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook made a much-anticipated status update Wednesday: The Internet social network is going public eight years after its computer-hacking CEO Mark Zuckerberg started the service at Harvard University.

5. European Finan. Crisis Tops AP Picks of '11 Biz Stories - Thursday, December 22, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) – Europe took the financial world on a stomach-churning ride in 2011.

The rising threat of default by heavily indebted European countries spread fear across financial markets and weighed on economies worldwide. As the year came to a close, banks and investors nervously watched Europe's political and financial leaders scramble to prevent the 17-nation eurozone from breaking apart.

6. FarmVille Creator Hopes to Raise About $1B in IPO - Monday, December 05, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) – Hoping to harvest some fresh cash, the online game company behind "FarmVille" said Friday that it plans to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of up to 100 million shares.

7. Report Says Facebook Seeks $10 Billion in IPO - Wednesday, November 30, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook might finally be laying down the groundwork for a highly anticipated initial public offering, long expected to take place sometime after April 2012.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the world's largest online social network is looking to raise as much as $10 billion in its IPO. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter but did not identify them by name.

8. Clear Channel Cuts Jobs in Regional Reorganization - Monday, October 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Clear Channel Communications Inc. said Friday that it had dismissed some on-air and off-air staff earlier this week, in a reshaping of its regional and local programming that should enable it to seek out advertisers focused on areas wider than a single market.

9. Pandora Gains Point to Healthy Internet IPO Future - Friday, June 17, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Internet radio station Pandora Media's IPO struck the right chord with investors Wednesday despite the static in the overall stock market.

Pandora's shares surged by as much 63 percent in their market debut before pulling back later in the session. The stock closed at $17.42, still a decent gain amid the market's broader decline. It marked a 9 percent increase from Pandora's initial public offering price of $16 and a nearly six-fold increase from what Pandora's own board thought the stock was worth just six months ago.

10. Pandora Raises IPO Offering Price Range - Monday, June 13, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) – Pandora raised the price range of its initial public offering Friday by at least a third and boosted the number of shares to be sold by as many as a million, demonstrating again a seemingly insatiable demand from investors for a stake a new slate of Internet companies.

11. Visible School Puts Faith In Christian Music - Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Amid an industry in a tailspin, the Visible School in Memphis has put its faith in Christian music.

And while labels flounder nationwide, some industry veterans see opportunity in the move.

“Business is all down,” said Jim Van Hook, a veteran Christian music executive in Nashville. “Across the board, a hit record is 50 percent of what it used to be. Christian music is not an exception. We had to shift from an old business model to a new one.”

12. Judge to Weigh Priest Abuse Revelations - Friday, April 03, 2009

Circuit Court Judge Charles McPherson will determine what details should be made public in court records from a civil lawsuit involving the sexual abuse of a teenager by a Memphis priest.