Facebook Inc. pulled back the curtain on how much it thinks it is worth, targeting a valuation as rich as $96 billion in what would be a record debut for an American company.

The filing starts the clock for Facebook's executives to persuade investors ahead of a scheduled May 18 initial public offering that the social network deserves such a lofty price. Eight-year-old Facebook would become the most valuable U.S. technology company at the time of an IPO, exceeding Google Inc.'s...