Microsoft buys Facebook stake
InternetNews | at | by Mike
After weeks of speculation, Microsoft and Facebook made it official Wednesday afternoon. The software giant has taken an equity stake in the social networking powerhouse and, in return, gets to expand its exclusive advertising deal to handle ads for Facebook on a global basis.
But it didn't come cheap. In order to play, Microsoft is spending $240 million for roughly a 1.6 percent stake, based on an overall valuation of privately-held Facebook at $15 billion. Not bad for a company that was founded by three Harvard students in their dorm room in February 2004.