It's official: Microsoft acquires equity stake in Facebook
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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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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. will invest in Chinese electronics maker Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Ltd. as part of a project to link televisions and consumer entertainment devices with the Internet. Microsoft China agreed to buy 15 million newly issued Changhong shares at a price of 6.27 renminbi per share, according to a Changhong filing (in Chinese) with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Microsoft's planned stake in the company is worth 94.1 million renminbi (US$12.3 million). Changhong's announcement follows an agreement between the two companies, signed Friday, to cooperate on a project called Media Galaxy. The goal is to develop, manufacture, and sell televisions, computers and digital entertainment products that connect to the Internet, Changhong said. It did not offer further details. Terms of the investment deal require Microsoft to hold on to its Changhong shares for at least three years.
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Microsoft's $240 million investment is much smaller than the rumored $750 million that Facebook sought. Why the difference? Epicenter's Terrence Russell analyzes the deal.
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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 Washington Post Company said yesterday that it had purchased Slate, an online magazine owned by Microsoft. The sale completes Slate&#39;s transformation from an experiment in the new media in 1996 to a respected brand name in journalism.
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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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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 will sell Microsoft a $240 million minority stake.
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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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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.
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The company's made several significant announcements today, and word on the much-rumored Microsoft stake is apparently even closer that we think.
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Social networking site Facebook has acquired Parakey Inc., a start-up run by the founders of the Firefox Web browser project, with the goal of entering the business of Web-based operating systems.
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Late fall reports that The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) would buy online magazine Slate from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) were confirmed yesterday.
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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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Thumbs up: Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) on Tuesday said investors paved the way for a one-time-only $3 dividend. Shareholders in the software colossus OK&#39;d amendments to the company&#39;s stock plans
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The world&#39;s wealthiest man has joined the board of an investment company owned by the world&#39;s second wealthiest. The board of billionaire Warren Buffett&#39;s Berkshire Hathaway voted Tuesday to elect Microsoft Corp.
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Social networking site, Facebook, believed to be in negotiations with Microsoft.