The Facebook IPO draws nearer, and we break down why it should matter (or not) to you.

The Facebook IPO has been looming on the horizon for some time now. Recent speculation has increased the ever-building hype around the company’s S1 filing, and the latest rumors say that the process could begin as soon as Wednesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, insiders suggest as much and say the company is expected to raise somewhere between $75 and $100 billion.

Beyond the fact that this means some very fortunate people are about to become very, very rich, what does the Facebook IPO mean?

For users

Largely, a Facebook IPO means very little for users. The site will continue to serve the same purpose: no one is going to entirely uproot and change the site’s direction, and none of the long-harbored Facebook fears are going to come true. This includes, but is not limited to, users being able to see who has visited their profile and being forced to pay for Facebook.

For shareholders and employees

Of course the real winners of a Facebook IPO are the company’s shareholders. Early investors like Peter Thiel and Sean Parker will be handsomely rewarded for their insight, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg obviously stands to rake in quite a bit of cash. If Facebook is able to raise the projected $100 billion, then Zuckerberg will go home with $25 billion.

For California

Last but not least, Facebook’s home of California would profit from its IPO. Capital gains taxes (which is when stock sales are taxed) would translate to millions of dollars for the state. “In the coming months, the state’s revenue forecast will need to be adjusted somewhat to account for the possibility of hundreds of millions of dollars of additional revenues related to the Facebook IPO,” analyst Mac Taylor said regarding California’s budget proposal.

To put some of that into visual context, check out this infographic from AccountingDegreeOnline