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Microsoft to pay $240 million for a stake in FaceBook

Facebook and Microsoft Expand Strategic Alliance

Anyone who likes to keep an eye on the major players in the software world will be interested to learn that Microsoft is to pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stage for Facebook, which would value this fledgling company at $15 billion.

See full press release

The New York Times (Saul Hansell) [ 24 October ]:

“He’s saying that the money will let Facebook hire hundreds of engineers and buy thousands of servers. And he defines the company’s business as “social computing.” That means Facebook wants to build a serious technology company using its close relationship with users, which challenges Google. “

See full article 

The New York Times (Brad Stone) [ 25 October ]

“The Microsoft investment throws the value of the holdings of Facebook investors into the stratosphere. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old Facebook founder who dropped out of Harvard to build the company, owns a 20 percent share which is now valued at $3 billion. Accel Partners, the venture capital firm that invested $12.7 million in May 2005 and owns 11 percent of Facebook, now holds stock worth $1.65 billion. “

See full article

What will Google make of this investment?