Microsoft purchases Facebook stake
Thursday, 25, Oct 2007 10:20
Software giant Microsoft has this week purchased a stake in the hugely successful social networking website Facebook.
The company paid $240 million (£120 million) for a 1.6 per cent share in the website, which was created by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University in 2004.
This equity stake buy-out by Microsoft values the total company worth at $15 billion.
The networking site is nothing short of a web 2.0 phenomenon with 49 million regular users across the globe - which includes five million people in Britain - and a quarter of a million new registrations a day.
A Microsoft statement said the strategic alliance would allow the two companies to expand advertising opportunities to cover international markets.
Owen Van Natta, Facebook's chief revenue officer, said: "We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level.
"We think this expanded relationship will allow Facebook to continue to innovate and grow as a technology leader and major player in social computing, as well as bring relevant advertising to nearly 50 million active users of Facebook."
Mr Zuckerburg rejected a $1 billion takeover offer from Yahoo! last year and the 23-year-old is believed to be holding off from an initial public offering for at least another two years.
