Microsoft Is Said to Consider a Stake in Facebook

MICROSOFT SAID TO CONSIDER A STAKE IN FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone & Andrew Ross Sorkin]
Some people laughed at Mark E. Zuckerberg when he reportedly turned down a $900 million offer last year for Facebook, the social networking Web site he founded three and a half years ago. But Microsoft, Google and several funds are considering investments in the fast-growing site, according to people with knowledge of the talks, that could give the start-up a value of more than $10 billion. While discussions were still in the early stage, these people said that Microsoft was considering an investment of $300 million to $500 million for a 5 percent stake of the company. Google is also said to be interested in an investment. Facebook’s valuation could go even higher as the two rivals create the kind of competitive bidding situation that has recently driven the acquisition prices of other start-ups into the stratosphere.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/technology/25soft.html
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