Microsoft clinches Facebook deal
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Microsoft Corp beat out rival Google Inc on Wednesday in a battle to invest in socializing Web site Facebook, agreeing to pay $240 million for a roughly 1.6 percent stake in the Web phenomenon and expand a deal to sell advertising.
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Setting the stage for a possible bidding battle, Microsoft Corp. is mulling an investment in Facebook Inc. that would value the rapidly growing online hangout at $10 billion or more, according to a report published Monday
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Microsoft will take a 240-million-dollar stake in the wildly popular social networking website Facebook as part of an expansion of the two firms' strategic alliance, the companies said Wednesday.
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Beating out Google in a hotly contested advertising deal, Microsoft announces it is making a $240 million investment in Facebook, valuing the social network at $15 billion.
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Facebook will sell a $240 million minority stake to Microsoft, which as part of the deal will also expand the advertising services it provides to the social networking phenom, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.The size of the ownership stake Microsoft will take during Facebook&#39;s next round of financing puts Facebook&#39;s valuation at a whopping $15 billion.&#160;Google had reportedly been courting Facebook as well.In addition to the ownership piece, Microsoft will also extend its existing agreement to provide banner ads to Facebook in the U.S. With this deal, Microsoft will become Facebook&#39;s exclusive third-party ad platform as well as provide Facebook ads internationally.Facebook will likely devote the cash influx from its next financing round to bankroll the torrid growth it is expecting in the coming 12 months in usage and headcount.With about 300 employees now, Facebook expects to have about 700 a year from now, its CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said last week at the&#160;Web 2.0 Summit.Meanwhile, the site is growing its usage at breakneck speed with about 250,000 new users registering every day.Founded in 2004, it currently has about 49 million active users today, up from 12 million in December. More than half of its active members return to the site daily. Some 59 percent of its users are outside the U.S.Earlier Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post reported that Facebook was in the final stages of making a decision on whether to do this deal with Microsoft or Google.For Microsoft, which hasn&#39;t attained as strong a position in online advertising as it had hoped and lags behind Google, landing this deal could be a major win, as long as Facebook proves to be as attractive an advertising vehicle as expected.The Journal reported later on Wednesday that Facebook expects a profit of about $30 million this year, on revenue of $150 million.Google and Yahoo provide ads for Facebook rival MySpace.Still, questions remain about social networking sites&#39; full potential for advertising, since most of their content is largely unregulated and created by millions of individuals, resulting often in material that is vulgar and objectionable.Facebook plans to share more ideas for revving up its advertising business on Nov. 6, at an event in New York to which it has invited what it calls &quot;its closest advertisers.&quot;&quot;As part of [the event], Facebook executives will discuss new approaches for advertising online,&quot; a Facebook spokeswoman said. &quot;We are not sharing any further details.&quot;Facebook, MySpace, and others are also under close scrutiny from law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad because sexual predators use social-networking sites to stalk and victimize people, in particular minors.The Journal first reported Google&#39;s and Microsoft&#39;s pursuit of the Facebook investment a month ago.
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Microsoft is apparently looking to purchase a five percent stake in social networking site Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Facebook Inc. is offering to pay up to $250,000 to software developers who create applications that help make its rapidly growing online social network an even more compelling Internet hangout.
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The Wall Street Journal has just accepted Facebook's request to be online friends.
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Microsoft Corp ended three years of resistance on Monday, finally agreeing to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission.
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Microsoft Corp  beat out rival  Google Inc  on Wednesday in a battle to invest in  socializing Web site Facebook, agreeing to pay $240 million for  a roughly 1.6 percent stake in the Web phenomenon and expand a  deal to sell advertising.
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Microsoft Corp is talking to Facebook about an investment in the company that could value the fast-growing social network at $10 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Monday.
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A fast-growing organization that aims to help users share their personal contacts between different social media and other Web 2.0 services and includes Facebook, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Plaxo has signed a more traditional heavy hitter up to the cause: Microsoft.
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No, Facebook isn't a $15 billion company. Yes, Microsoft is smart.
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Vodafone is the first operator to use Facebook's new mobile social networking platform.
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Microsoft announced yesterday that it had reached a $536 million antitrust settlement with Novell and an agreement with a computer industry trade association that has long fought
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Google shall not pass It was the worst-kept secret in the internet industry, but today Microsoft proved all the rumor-mongers right by confirming that it is taking a stake in Facebook, and shutting Google out of the social networking website.â¦
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Novell Inc. (NOVL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it had reached a settlement with software maker Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.