Microsoft beats Google to Facebook stake
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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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Belatedly recognizing the importance of social networking as an online service and advertising vehicle, Google this week will unleash its strongest response yet to the rising threat and skyrocketing popularity of MySpace and Facebook.On Thursday, Google will announce OpenSocial, an initiative with a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) at its core that is designed &quot;to spread social applications across the Web,&quot; the company said.These common APIs have been designed to let developers create social networking applications that will run on multiple Web sites, simplifying the making and distribution of these programs.Partners supporting OpenSocial include various well-known software developers and social networking sites: Oracle, Salesforce.com, Hi5, iLike, LinkedIn, Slide, Ning, Friendster, and Plaxo. Neither Facebook nor MySpace is on the list of partners at press time.The move is also no doubt intended to dilute the massive&#160;success Facebook has had in attracting external developers&#160;since it opened up its Web site platform to third-party applications in May.About 7,000 such applications have been built for Facebook so far, helping to make the social networking site more attractive to people and thus boosting its usage.&#160;MySpace recently announced it would follow Facebook&#39;s example.By allowing developers to write an application once and have it work in multiple social networking sites, the OpenSocial initiative could, in theory, water down the appeal of Facebook&#39;s ballooning applications catalogue.Once considered a fad of interest mostly to teens and young adults, social networks have significantly broadened their demographic appeal, attracting many people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.Along the way, social networking sites have been created for other purposes beyond entertainment and staying in touch with friends. For example, there are social networks tailored for specific occupations, such as doctors, and interests, such as sports.Google has had a social networking site named Orkut for several years, but it doesn&#39;t seem to have merited much attention from the company until recently, and only after the popularity and potential of this type of site became evident.Google was reportedly locked in a battle with Microsoft&#160;over which one would be chosen by Facebook to buy a stake in the social networking company and earn a deal to provide advertising to it.Microsoft eventually won, buying a 1.6 percent stake that values Facebook at an eye-popping $15 billion, although the social networking company reportedly will have revenue of just $150 million this year.With about 300 employees now, Facebook expects to have about 700 a year from now, its CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently said. About 250,000 new users register every day at Facebook, which was founded in 2004.In June, MySpace had 114.1 million unique visitors worldwide, ranking first among social networking sites, followed by Facebook with 52.2 million, according to comScore. Hi5 ranked third with 28.2 million, while Friendster was fourth with 24.7 million. Orkut rounded out the top 5 with 24.1 million.More information about OpenSocial and resources for developers will be available in this Web site later this week. There will also be a developer sandbox.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft raised the dividend it pays out to shareholders by a penny per quarter to $0.10 on Wednesday, the same dividend as for chip giant Intel. The company did not say why it raised the dividend. The company's stock rose $0.05 cents to close at $25.98 on Wednesday. For years, investors in Microsoft stock complained to the company to raise its dividend and share the wealth. In 2004,Â the company respondedÂ with a four-year, $75 billion plan to pay a one-time special $3.00 per share cash dividend and launch a massive stock buyback. By comparison, other technology companies, such as Dell and Apple Computer, for example, pay no dividends on their shares. But Procter & Gamble, a maker of household products such as Tide laundry detergent and Crest tooth paste, pays a dividend of $0.31 per quarter. The first Microsoft shareholders to receive the increased dividend will be holders on record as of Nov. 16, who will be paid on Dec. 14, Microsoft said.
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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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Microsoft Corp. shareholders yesterday overwhelmingly approved a plan that clears the way for the company to issue them a huge, one-time dividend -- the biggest piece of a $75 billion cash payout that many shareholders have long advocated.
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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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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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InfoWorld - Google beat Wall Street&#39;s expectations for its fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2006, as the company continues on a tear, selling search engine advertising much faster than its biggest rivals and than the industry average.
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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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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has approached FacebookÂ in recent weeks proposing an investment that would give Microsoft a stake of up to 5 percent in the popular social-networking company, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. With Microsoft willing to invest between $300 million and $500 million, the deal would value Facebook at $10 billion or more, the Journal reported, quoting anonymous sources. Google has also expressed an interest in acquiring a Facebook stake recently, according to the Journal. Thus, Microsoft could find itself competing for Facebook's attention with Google. However, Facebook's discussions with Google and Microsoft are in the early stages and could end up with no agreement with either suitor, according to the Journal. IDG News Service's requests for comment from Facebook, Microsoft, and Google weren't immediately answered. Founded in February 2004, Facebook is one of the world's most popular social-networking sites with about 42 million active users. Facebook has been growing strongly in the past 12 months. In December, it had about 12 million active users. The site initially only admitted students, but last September it lifted that restriction. In May of this year, itÂ opened up to third-party developersÂ to create applications for the site, which has also added to its popularity with users. Along the way, it has caught the attention of big Internet playersÂ such asÂ Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo. The latter reportedly tried to buy Facebook last year for $1 billion. Facebook's attractiveness is that it builds very strong and deep relationships with its users.Â More thanÂ half of its active members return to the site daily, and Facebook knows a lot about them, thanks to all the personal information people disclose on their site profiles and interactions with other members. This, in turn, offers a desirable audience to advertisers and to ad sellers and distributorsÂ such asÂ Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. A little more than a year ago,Â Facebook chose Microsoft to display banner adsÂ on the site. Facebook would be interested in using the cash raised from selling a stake for buying other companies, increasing its staff of about 300, and beefing up its technical infrastructure, the Journal reported. Facebook is also weighing the option of raising funds from financial investors, the Journal said.
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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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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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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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Social networking site, Facebook, believed to be in negotiations with Microsoft.
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Microsoft prevailed in a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart.
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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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Microsoft Corp.  shareholders cleared the way on Tuesday for the world's largest software maker to pay out the largest corporate dividend ever next month and welcomed news of a blockbuster first day of sales for its video game "Halo 2."