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Steve Ballmer Says Microsoft Tried To Buy Facebook For $24 Billion (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on from the itsy-bitsy dept.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told CNBC on Friday that his company tried to buy Facebook when it was "itsy-bitsy" for $24 billion. BusinessInsider adds: Facebook fielded a lot of offers in its early days. When CNBC on Friday asked Ballmer how much Microsoft offered back then, he said, "Oh I think $24 billion when the company was itsy-bitsy and he said no. And I respect that." Zuckerberg clearly made the right choice. He currently has a net worth of $57 billion and Facebook's market cap is $374 billion.

2 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. I wish they had succeeded by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wish Microsoft had succeeded, facebook might be extinct by now.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. Weird... by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If someone offered me 24 billion for anything, even my hypothetical super-successful company that I built with my own blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice of a firstborn son, I would take it in a heartbeat. Same puzzlement over the Snapchat guys declining what I think was an overly generous offer for that company. Then again, I've never built such a company so I have no idea of what it means to give up control of it. Still... With 24 billion in your pocket you can pretty much do what you want, start your own new company, hell, start a space agency even...

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...