Microsoft acquires equity stake in Facebook; Facebook's valuation at 15 billion
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After CNET News.com reported it earlier today, the Redmond tech giant has taken a $240 million stake in the red-hot social network.
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Facebook will sell Microsoft a $240 million minority stake.
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Microsoft buys a $240m stake in the social networking site Facebook, beating rival Google
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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 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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The price tag for Facebook, the second-largest social-networking Web site, just keeps rising. But what does that mean for MySpace, which is the No. 1? Microsoft and others are said to be considering a minority investment in Facebook that would value the three-year-old company at more than $10 billion. At least one analyst, Vijay Jayant of [...].
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It's hard to determine what's more surprising about Microsoft Corp.'s investment in Facebook Inc.  -  the appraisal that valued a 3 1/2-year-old Internet hangout at $15 billion or the rare snub of online search leader Google Inc
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Facebook and Microsoft Corp on  Wednesday said the world's largest software maker will become  the exclusive provider of banner advertising and sponsored  links on the social networking Web site as part of a strategic  alliance.
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As CNET News.com reported earlier today, the Redmond tech giant has taken a $240 million stake in the red-hot social network.
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Microsoft Corp  is talking to  Facebook about buying a minority stake in the fast-growing  online social network that could value the company at $10  billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web  site on Monday.
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Microsoft Corp. has struck a deal to provide advertising for social networking site Facebook, in one of the first high-profile agreements for the software maker's online advertising platform.
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The investment ends two months of jockeying among Microsoft, Google and Yahoo for the right to invest in and forge close ties with the fast-growing social networking Web site.
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Rumors that Microsoft is negotiating a stake in social networking site Facebook could mean another bubble in Internet company values.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Rapidly rising Internet star Facebook Inc. has sold a 1.6 percent stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million, spurning a competing offer from online search leader Google Inc.
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Online social network Facebook is  close to reaching a deal with Google Inc  or Microsoft  Corp  for an investment that would value the company as  high as $15 billion, according to media reports on Wednesday.
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MySpace, the social networking  Web site, could be worth around $15 billion within three years,  measured in terms of the value created for shareholders of  parent company News Corp., a Wall Street media analyst forecast  on Wednesday.
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Microsoft Corp is in talks to buy up to  5 percent of Facebook in a deal that could value the  fast-growing online social network company at $10 billion or  more, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.