Microsoft clinches Facebook deal

MICROSOFT CLINCHES FACEBOOK DEAL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Daisuke Wakabayashi]
Microsoft beat out rival Google 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. Microsoft and Facebook said the $240 million investment valued Facebook at $15 billion, which analysts said was a steep price and a bet the young company would be able to transform itself into a hub for all sorts of Web activity. Microsoft said it would be the exclusive third-party advertising platform for Facebook, which has more than 49 million Internet users. That extends a previous deal into Facebook sites outside the United States. Some 250,000 new users register on Facebook each day.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2424560420071024

* Microsoft Buys Stake in Facebook
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/technology/25facebook.html?ref=todayspaper

* Microsoft Bets On Facebook Stake And Web Ad Boom
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119323518308669856.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

* Microsoft Invests $240 Million in Facebook
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102401910.html

* Microsoft buys a bit of Facebook
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20071025/1b_facebook25.art.htm

* Microsoft bests Google in the Facebook race
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-facebook25oct25,1,2234282.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business