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Microsoft to Buy 5% of Facebook Valuing at $10bn

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wish-i-had-a-billion-dollars dept.

l-ascorbic writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is poised to buy 5% of Facebook for $300 million to $500 million, valuing the company at up to $10 billion. Microsoft already handles advertising for the site."

8 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. $10 billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    $10 billion for a site that has 34 million active users ~= $300 per user. Hmm. I think this site is highly overvalued. But let MS waste their money if they want.

    1. Re:$10 billion by Chineseyes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that sites like myspace and facebook ARE NOT long term hubs for people to visit. They are trendy sites, back in '99 when I was in a freshman in college the place to go was blackplanet, mi gente, Asian Avenue, and livejournal. After these sites it was friendster which was ethnically all inclusive. Now the new trend is myspace and facebook. All of these social networking sites are just fads and when something that looks better comes along everyone will abandon myspace/facebook/whatever and start aggregating friends somewhere else.

      --
      I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended

      --A wise old fart named SC0RN
  2. This feels like 1999 all over again by Paktu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How the hell is Facebook worth $10 billion? Less than a year ago, they were estimated to be worth $1 billion...does anyone seriously think this site can bring in real revenue?

    1. Re:This feels like 1999 all over again by monk.e.boy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How the hell is Facebook worth $10 billion?

      Repeat after me: BUBBLE

      Next month it will be worth ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS, and the month after it'll be worthless.

      --
      Open source, flash charts
  3. Well, that's one way to get Silverlight adopted... by mad.frog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...just require 34 million active Facebook users (who are probably mostly young, rabid web users of other sites too) to install it.

    How long till we see some cool new site feature -- or, hell, even an existing, basic feature -- reworked ("enhanced") to require Silverlight?

  4. Re:Hell! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unlike Zuckerberg, Jobs actually innovated and evangelized real technology. Facebook rehashed a viral formula in a niche market and grew it successfully. Facebook is valuable because the site is popular, but this can change on the whims of a user-base. Facebook has made no significant technological contribution to the internet and overvaluing popularity is a huge mistake for long-term investments---it's almost like we don't remember 1994-2001 anymore.

  5. The "White Pages" for eMail by willy_me · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've come to see Facebook as being the "white pages" for eMail. People change their eMail addresses constantly - usually due to changes in employment or SPAM overload. What is needed is a way to find your friends current eMail address. This is the role that Facebook serves. If I need to send a message to a friend I can just use Facebook and it matters not how they have changed their eMail.

    I'm not suggesting that this is a perfect solution but it does help explain the popularity of these sites. It is the reason why I joined Facebook.

    Willy

  6. Re:wow by timmarhy · · Score: 3, Insightful
    i smell another dot com bubble rising.

    there's no way facebook is worth 10billion. they dont' produce anything.

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....