Microsoft 'mulls Facebook stake'
305149
Microsoft is in talks to buy a stake in the social networking site Facebook, the Wall Street Journal says.
624889
Software dinosaur Microsoft paid millions for a tiny piece of trendy internet property Facebook. But the company needs something to make it hot again
24423
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.
275978
Microsoft is rumored to be interested in investing in Facebook, in a deal that would value the social network at $10 billion or more. Just what else could you buy with $10 billion? It's the GDP of Bolivia, for starters.
372114
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.
95595
No, Facebook isn't a $15 billion company. Yes, Microsoft is smart.
324513
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.
657113
Microsoft Corp  has showed early signs of narrowing the gap with Google Inc  in its Web business, leading Wall Street to ask whether the world's biggest software company may be able to turn an overlooked unit into a financial powerhouse.
625461
Wall Street Journal reports  Microsoft may take a stake of up to $500 million in social network, which could push valuation toward the $10 billion mark.
693996
Microsoft may end up having to raise the amount it is willing to pay for Yahoo if the software company&#39;s stock continues to drop while Yahoo&#39;s continues to rise.In the week since&#160;Microsoft made its surprise bid for Yahoo, the price Microsoft is willing to offer the Internet company has dropped by nearly 7 percent as Microsoft&#39;s share price has fallen. In the meantime, Yahoo&#39;s shares have risen in value, trading at nearly the $31 per share Microsoft was willing to pay, making the company potentially worth a higher asking price and the offer vulnerable to higher bids.Microsoft announced its offer to acquire Yahoo on Feb. 1, saying it would pay $31 for half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. Microsoft&#39;s half-cash/half-stock offer to Yahoo was valued at about $44.6 billion at the time it was made.The stock half was based on the $32.60 Microsoft share price at the end of Thursday, the day before the deal was announced last Friday. Yahoo&#39;s share price at the close of market on Jan. 31 was $19.18. The cash half of the deal was $22.3 billion, which, when considering Microsoft agreed to pay $31 per share, is based on half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares being 719,354,838.Microsoft has not publicly said what number of outstanding shares it has based its offer price on. In its form 10-Q filed Nov. 9, 2007, Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares as of Oct. 31, 2007, were 1,336,444,034. However, cutting that number in half and multiplying it by Microsoft&#39;s $31 per-share offer adds up to $20.7 billion, not the $22.3 billion in cash Microsoft is offering.By Friday afternoon, Microsoft&#39;s share price was down about 12 percent at $28.40. Based on that price and assuming that 719,354,838 is the other half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares -- and then factoring in the $22.3 billion cash offer -- the amount of the bid stands at $41.7 billion.Microsoft&#39;s stock is likely down due to its offer for a number of reasons, said a financial analyst who was interviewed Friday and asked not to be named. Investors may not be happy with the money Microsoft is willing to pay for Yahoo, and&#160;strategic questions surrounding how the companies will pull off a merger&#160;successfully also are driving the stock down.Moreover, the deal is expected to dilute Microsoft&#39;s earnings in fiscal 2009 and perhaps even in fiscal 2010, so the company&#39;s earnings predictions likely will come down, the analyst said.On the other hand, Yahoo&#39;s stock has been buoyed by speculation there could be other, higher bidders for the company now that Microsoft has shown its hand. Yahoo stock has risen nearly 34 percent since the deal was announced; on Friday afternoon it was trading at nearly $29, which is only slightly lower than the current per-share for the stock half of Microsoft&#39;s offer.Microsoft has declined to comment about whether it will adjust its offer so that the final amount of the deal will be the original $44.6 billion offered. The cash half for the time being remains the same, sources close to the company said Friday. However, this could change in last-minute dealings if Microsoft&#39;s stock continues to lose value while Yahoo&#39;s rises, and other companies offer competitive bids for Yahoo in the meantime.
635938
InfoWorld - 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.
357049
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.
499760
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft may take a stake of up to $500 million in social network, which could push valuation toward the $10 billion mark.
707299
A deal between Facebook and either  Google Inc  or Microsoft Corp  is expected to  be announced in the next 24 to 48 hours, The New York Post  reported on its Web site on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
161430
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.
396684
For Microsoft Corp. shareholders, the holidays will likely come early this year in the form of a one-time &#36;3 dividend that's part of the company's plan to return some of its &#36;64.4 billion cash horde back to shareholders. But Microsoft won't hand out the cash unless shareholders allow the company to alter its stock compensation plans, so employees who hold stock options and stock awards aren't hurt by the dividend payout.
691478
Yahoo Inc's board of directors is to  meet on Friday to discuss Microsoft Corp's $44.6 billion buyout  offer, the TechCrunch blog said, citing unnamed sources.