So, what are Goldman Sachs' intentions regarding its large Facebook investment? The conventional wisdom is that it is positioning itself to snag the lead underwriter role when the company goes public, which many regard as inevitable. The hope is to cash out and reap some fat fees, not to mention bragging rights.

But not everyone believes an IPO is unavoidable. The modern apparatus for trading private shares may be much more developed today than it was when Microsoft was forced to go public. The SEC is taking a look at trading in private shares and may have some thoughts.

But even if Facebook stays private, Goldman Sachs will still benefit. Goldman may be angling to create a new vehicle to allow individuals and institutions to bet on Facebook, according to a Breakingviews columnist. The bank will create a special purpose vehicle that invests in nothing but Facebook shares. The SPV, if its shares are traded actively, would amount to a closed-end mutual funds of sorts, allowing people to speculate on the value of the Facebook shares owned by the SPV. Goldman would be only too happy to make a market for those shares.

You could envision demand by a lot of people and funds that are otherwise denied shares of this benchmark social networking company. And when the time comes to go public, Goldman will still presumably be in good shape to lead the underwriting effort.

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