Microsoft Pays $240 Million for a Stake in Facebook

That’s a lot of money for a small percentage in a social networking site… Facebook is supposed to be worth $15 Billion! Uh huh. It doesn’t seem reasonable to me… but then, I don’t “get it.”

Microsoft Takes $240 M Stake in Facebook

“This afternoon, Microsoft won the apparent battle for an equity stake in social networking applications provider Facebook, making a $240 million equity investment in the company. In exchange, Microsoft will become the exclusive third-party supplier of Facebook’s advertising platform. During a conference call Wednesday afternoon, Facebook Chief Revenue Officer Owen van Natta and Microsoft platforms division president Kevin Johnson revealed few specific details. In fact, they worked hard to draw a clear line around those items they would not reveal any details about. For instance, would the partnership enable new forms of Microsoft applications on the Facebook platform? Won’t say. Will Facebook branded applications appear on Microsoft properties? Won’t say. Will other advertising partners become involved in the agreement? Although Kevin Johnson repeatedly called the agreement a ‘win/win/win situation,’ he and his new partners refused to disclose just who the third ‘win’ belongs to. He did say that if you’re a financial analyst, you should be able to take a look at the future evaluation of the advertising market over the next few years, and validate Microsoft’s belief that its equity stake will eventually (though the number of years is indefinite) be evaluated at $15 billion.”