

Microsoft courting Facebook? - sanj
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121017846020274243.html

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dbreunig
I bet they offer less than $15 Billion.

Now, granted this purchase would align with their current business goals to
cater to younger, hipper customers (hence their recent advertising shift)
supporting their Zune and XBox businesses.

But why aren't they courting LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a more professional (read:
worthwhile) business model, one that would actually gel with Microsoft.
Additionally, the purchase of LinkedIn would complement their business service
offering and allow them to expand their B2B business to compete with IBM,
especially in the small business area. I'm baffled by this one...

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TrevorJ
Agreed about the linked in point. FB brand would suffer from day one under MS.
Linked in brand would not. Simple as that.

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TrevorJ
Why does MS seem so desperate to make a move for the sake of making a move
right now? It feels as if the failure of Vista has shaken their confidence in
their ability to deliver software anymore so now they are trying to become a
player in a different field to compensate. It feels weird to me, I wonder
what's been going on behind closed doors over there.

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aston
Could be a gambit to play at Yahoo!'s insecurity. You know, how you start
acting like you're going out with another girl to make your ex jealous.

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TrevorJ
Hmm, that is true but to be honest, it reeks of desperation.

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mlinsey
Would Microsoft really offer something substantially more than $15 Billion?
Their last investment never really was a $15 Billion valuation because MS
received an advertising deal as well as stock in exchange for their money, but
I would think Facebook would demand a substantial premium over that $15B
anyway.

I think an acquisition of Facebook won't happen, partly because I don't think
Zuckerberg is interested in selling, and that's why the sale didn't go through
before when MS and Yahoo offered over a billion. But the other reason I think
it won't happen is because Facebook's valuation is really hard to peg right
now, before we see what kind of stuff is really built with their platform. If
multiple hundered-million-dollar companies and maybe a billion-dollar company
or two are built from Facebook Apps, than FB is probably significantly
undervalued at $15B. However, if the Facebook platform continues to primarily
be a way to throw sheep at people and provide an outlet for widgets from
companies that were already valuable before Facebook (Slide, RockYou), $15B is
probably too much. It therefore might make sense for all parties to wait and
see what happens.

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ssharp
>>> I think an acquisition of Facebook won't happen, partly because I don't
think Zuckerberg is interested in selling, and that's why the sale didn't go
through before when MS and Yahoo offered over a billion.

The sale didn't go through BECAUSE they offered him one billion. I'm sure if
they came along with more a couple of years ago, he would have sold.

Personally, I hope they IPO. That stock will be amazing to short after the IPO
pushes the stock price at least 50% higher than it should be.

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dmose
Buying facebook would be a nice play, but it would be more like putting all
your eggs into one basket as yahoo has more unique properties, including gems
like flickr.

However, many people feel the future of search is through social networks,
that is, seeing what my friends think/have bought before I go off on my own to
try and figure things out is a pretty compelling reason to invest in a high
growth social network.

Although I'm sure most MS engineers are sweating given facebook's platofrm.

It comes down to facebooks long term viability as a property on the net.

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redorb
they've been courting, in fact the 240mm investment made by them already was a
gesture of good will towards FB from MSFT

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globalrev
what sources of revenue does facebook have at the moment?

has it actually made ANY money yet?

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reynolds
CPM ads and a custom PPC ad platform.

