Report: Microsoft Seeks Facebook Stake
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The Wall Street Journal says Microsoft has proposed an investment that would give it a stake of up to 5 percent in Facebook.
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Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it would pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent minority equity stake in Facebook in a deal that values the popular social networking Web site 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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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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Yahoo may team up with News Corp. to fend off&#160;Microsoft&#39;s bid to buy the struggling Web portal, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday.The two companies are in talks about a deal in which News Corp. would take a stake of as much as 20 percent in Yahoo. MySpace and other Web properties of News Corp. would be combined with Yahoo, according to the report, which was attributed to &quot;people familiar with the matter.&quot;The deal would also involve a cash infusion by News Corp. and a private equity firm. Yahoo would remain independent.On Monday,&#160;Yahoo rejected Microsoft&#39;s $44.6 billion unsolicited buyout bid, saying it undervalued the company. Microsoft has vowed to take all necessary steps to close the deal.A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the report. News Corp. and Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Microsoft said Wednesday it would pay $240 million for a small slice of Facebook in a deal that values the red-hot social networking website at $15 billion.
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Social-networking site Facebook is in   serious talks to sell itself to Yahoo YHOO.O for an amount   that could approach $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal   reported on Thursday.
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The company is considering an investment of between $300 million and $500 million for less than 5 percent of Facebook.
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A Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O spin-off on   Tuesday said it will take on Internet social networks   MySpace.com and Facebook.com, touting tools users can buy to   craft better-looking Web pages.
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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 strategic alliance of the two firms, the companies said Wednesday.
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Microsoft Corp beat out Google Inc on Wednesday in a battle to invest in socializing Web site Facebook, agreeing to pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the Web phenomenon.
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The Motley Fool - It's no secret that Internet frenzy 2.0 has included a fair share of small Web start-ups getting bought out by Internet giants. Yahoo!'s (Nasdaq: YHOO - News) reported interest in buying social networking site Facebook last week is yet another case in point. However, craigslist founder Craig Newmark went on the record saying he's not in the least bit interested in a buyout. And guess what -- nobody should be in the least bit surprised.
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Like rival lovers, Google and Microsoft are intensely courting Facebook as the social-networking upstart picks petals off a flower -- &quot;she loves me, she loves me not&quot; -- and tries to decide which of the two will be allowed to buy a minority stake in the company, according to press reports.The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post reported Wednesday that Facebook will likely make a decision within a day or two, and that the chosen company will also get a deal to provide ads for the social network&#39;s sites outside of the U.S.Google, Facebook, and Microsoft all declined to comment when contacted by IDG News Service.Founded in 2004, Facebook&#39;s popularity has skyrocketed during the past year or so. Its user ranks have increased to about 47 million active users today from 12 million in December. More than half of its active members return to the site daily.As such, it is perceived as an attractive vehicle for online advertising, although some industry experts question how effective social-networking sites are for advertisers.In a social-networking site, particularly one as restricted as Facebook, people mostly visit the pages of their acquaintances, to see their latest comments, photos, and videos.For Facebook, MySpace, and other social sites like YouTube and Flickr, it&#39;s still unclear whether enough advertisers will feel comfortable running their ads on pages with potentially objectionable material whose creation is largely unregulated and created by millions of individuals.Facebook will likely share ideas for revving up its advertising business on Nov. 6, when it holds 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;In addition to the advertising questions, Facebook, MySpace, and others are in the crosshairs of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad because sexual predators use social-networking sites to stalk and victimize people, in particular minors.Still, Facebook is the Internet company with the loudest buzz now, and the anonymous sources for the Journal and the Post articles suggest that the price of the minority stake in play gives Facebook a total valuation of between $10 billion and $15 billion.Both newspapers reported that in addition to Google or Microsoft, other investors might be involved in the acquisition of the ownership stake.The Journal first reported Google&#39;s and Microsoft&#39;s pursuit of the Facebook investment a month ago.
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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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These days, numbers just seem to blur together. Microsoft is thinking about paying $500 million for 5 percent of Facebook, which would make that company worth $10 billion. VMware, in which parent company EMC recently sold a stake to the public, is currently valued at $30 billion (that's just for VMware, not the whole of EMC).
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The two companies confirm their partnership, with Microsoft taking a $240 million stake in Facebook as well as gaining the right to sell ads for Facebook internationally.
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Microsoft is in talks to buy a stake in the social networking site Facebook, the Wall Street Journal says.