Facebook Worth £5 Billion In Just Three Years: Microsoft Want 5 Percent Stake

Unless you have been hiding under a rock lately, you would’ve heard about Facebook. The social networking site has been going from strength to strength recently and has seen it’s value go from nothing to £5 billion in just three years.

Facebook is the site of choice for millions of employees looking for an escape from work and students looking to keep in touch with friends. The business was founded by 23-year-old Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg. The ‘dropout’ is now in talks with Microsoft who want to buy a stake of up to 5% in it.

A deal with Microsoft would allow Facebook to get closer to a major software maker, which will give it a chance of further strong growth. It would help Microsoft too, as it would help to compete against Google for a growing base of online advertising and put one of the Internet’s hottest names in Microsoft’s camp.

Facebook already has an advertising deal with Microsoft but would in turn gain from having closer ties with developers. There are hopes that Facebook can turn into a Web platform where users can play games, interact and read news about each other.

An analyst has said,

“If you are building a business around building a platform there is one company that has done it better than anybody else - and that is Microsoft. People have been just assuming that Google would be the best partner and that is not necessarily the case.”

Mark Zuckerberg has continually said that his company wants to remain independent and is seen as preparing to float itself on the stock market eventually.

Whatever happens, Mark Zuckerberg will be one of the wealthiest dropouts in history!

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