More Financing Rumors: This Time, $200 Million Offer at $10 Billion Valuation
Each week we are hearing new rumors of term sheets Facebook is seeing. While Facebook says it is open to having conversations with interested parties, the company also insists it doesn’t need to raise money any time soon.
Just last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit, “If there’s an investment to be done on very good terms, we will consider it if for no other reason than to have more buffer if we want to do something in the future.”
The latest rumor this week comes from the Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Vascellero, who says that Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologies recently submitted an offer for $200 million of Facebook preferred stock at a $10 billion valuation. The company also offered to buy between $100-$150 million in employee common stock at a $6.5 billion valuation as part of the deal. Last week, TechCrunch reported that Facebook turned down another $200 million offer at an $8 billion valuation from an unnamed source.
Facebook won’t comment on the rumors. However, Zuckerberg has publicly characterized all of the conversations as preliminary.
“Some of the rumblings that people are reporting on, are just different conversations that have happened, but there’s really nothing new to talk about there,” Zuckerberg told Reuters.
Nevertheless, the Facebook investment rumor mill has been gaining steam in recent months. As the company matures (revenues are said to be expected to surpass $500 million this year), interest in the company from larger investors and investment banks certainly seems to be increasing.













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