Every new day seems to bring fresh news about Internet companies mulling, planning, or avoiding initial public offerings. Facebook, LinkedIn, Groupon, and now Zynga–the list goes on. “For many of these companies, an IPO seems more like a bar mitzvah,” an anonymous social media investor told the New York Times, in today’s piece about how Zynga is in no hurry to go public. “It’s not very life-altering in the end, but rather something to get through.”

What are the varying IPO strategies of each of these companies? When is an IPO a simple rite of passage, and when is it something more? Is an IPO really like a bar mitzvah? An investigation.

Facebook

The largest IPO-related news of the last week has come from Facebook. As the privately-held company has grown and become more profitable, a shadow network of trading in its stock has sprung up, prompting investigation by the SEC. (If a company is deemed to have more than 499 shareholders, it must go public). With last week’s news of Goldman Sachs’s $450 million investment in the company, analysts have said the company is on its way to a Goldman-managed IPO. [read]

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