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November 30, 2007

Another $60 Million For Facebook

Michael Arrington

46 comments »

facebooklogo2.gifWhen Facebook took a $240 million investment from Microsoft last month at a $15 billion valuation, they became, in theory, one of the most valuable Internet-only companies on the planet.

But that valuation was tenuous at best. Microsoft and Facebook expanded their year-old advertising relationship as part of the deal. And Facebook was unable to get a third party to pony up cash to justify the valuation. Only a single (financially conflicted) entity was willing to say Facebook was worth $15 billion - that wasn’t good enough supporting evidence for the valuation.

Until now, that is. Kara Swisher is reporting that Facebook has grabbed another investor - $60 million from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

Facebook has now raised just shy of $340 million in capital. That’s enough to keep them going as a private entity for years, if they choose to do so. Their $15 billion valuation may or may not be real, but they certainly have a lot of cash to fiddle with.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 12:35 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. SEO Mash

    November 30th, 2007 at 12:53 am

    Yippee!!! More Facebook news!

  2. flip

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:06 am

    do we know how much he gets for that $60 million?

  3. Alaska Miller

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:13 am

    They should convert that into coinage, build a safe, and just take a swim every day.

  4. EH

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:16 am

    Hookers and blow.

  5. 113.com

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:20 am

    $340M, good level of operating cash…

    In Web1.0 terms, what’s their “burn rate”… (still anybody talk about that?!)

    In any case, it’s more like the scenario of billionares socializing.. delighted to note that one was actually from China Hong Kong…

  6. Vinay

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:22 am

    OMG! Its time we Invest in them.. think about all members in FB investing $1… how much would you value it now :) ? Lols! FB is Crazy!!!

  7. Michael Arrington

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:31 am

    wow. Alaska. Long time.

  8. Alaska Miller

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:46 am

    tech news tend to be pretty boring at the end of the year. hopefully you don’t get too emo this christmas time like before.

  9. Derrick

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:07 am

    Well congrats to them for securing another massive invesment.

  10. Parul Bindra

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:14 am

    Good going Facebook.. Im sure with money like this they can go on for years without being bothered about funds. Well a lot of people including me were beginning to doubt Facebook’s ability to raise more money after getting a huge $15 billion valuation following a $240 million investment from Microsoft last month, it seems like another $60 million in the kitty is more than they could ahve asked for.

    Parul
    http://www.bhopu.com

  11. Peter

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:16 am

    FB can start their own banking service

  12. Alex

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:23 am

    Does anybody believe Li-Ka Shing has a Facebook profile?

    My lord $60M investment is pretty hefty investment. Well, I guess when you are personally worth $20B that is chump change.

    This investment most definitely has strings attached, imo. Li-Ka Shings company (Hutchinson) will be a joint venture with Facebook in Asia.

    Here comes Facebook-Asia…..Smart move!

  13. Dan

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:32 am

    Congrates to them for being such a high valued company.

  14. Web Design in Australia

    November 30th, 2007 at 2:51 am

    Having such expanse cash reserves and so few restrictions due to their private structure, Facebook truly has no excuse not to continue succeeding and improving. With that kind of money, surely their R&D budget would be more than most internet companies could ask for. I’m looking forward to some sensational innovation from that company.

    Get listed already so I can buy some stock! ;)

  15. I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

    November 30th, 2007 at 3:01 am

    I was initially irritated when Yet Another F******* story was at the top of my Feedburner for Techcrunch. But I’m mollified by the fact that the latest person to invest a huge amount of money in a moderate-revenue business that may have already peaked without turning a profit has a name like the onomatopoeia of a cash register.

    Interviewer: So, Mark Zuckerberg, who’s your latest investor, and what does this mean for you personally?

    Mark Zuckerberg: Ka-shing!

    Yes, I know, little things please little minds.

  16. Pachinko

    November 30th, 2007 at 3:36 am

    Wow Li-Ka Shing and Bill Gates as backers.

    Congrats Facebook, your “stock” just went up.

    ps. there’s still Masayoshi Son/Softbank if you need still more credibility as to backers for your little boutique operation.

  17. Tcruncher2

    November 30th, 2007 at 3:45 am

    Hey Arrington,

    How about posting on some unknown startups every know and then ? It’s the same old crap everyday on there.

    Google launches a product or Facebook launches a product or gets funding.

    Why not do some posts that aren’t Facebook or Google related for 1 ENTIRE WEEK. Think you can do it ? I challenge you. No posts on these 2 companies for 1 entire week at all across Techcrunch.com

    At least then 100 or so small struggling startups might get some coverage.

  18. 113.com

    November 30th, 2007 at 3:50 am

    @15, certainly cute… Ka-shing… Ca-shing… Cashing… now I get it ;-)

  19. coco275

    November 30th, 2007 at 4:14 am

    This was 60mill of goodwill to have 1st option to take FB into China ;-)

    Li Ka Shing is a well connected man and in China, being connected is all that matters.

  20. Steve Ballmer

    November 30th, 2007 at 4:38 am

    Facebook is a true winner with us behind them pulling the strings!

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

  21. Chris

    November 30th, 2007 at 6:34 am

    If FB is so great why does it need the cash? I know this is a naive question - is there a helpful webpage out there that can explain this to me?

    So it now has $340m - isn’t the web changing so fast that they may not even have enough time to spend it let alone give a return to the investors?

  22. jones

    November 30th, 2007 at 6:51 am

    For those interested, you can filter out facebook posts using yahoo pipes. Once you do that, point the TC feed to the pipes feed and you’ll have a TC facebook-less feed.

  23. zwe

    November 30th, 2007 at 6:56 am

    Mike , please kick #21off .. the website is http://clubpenguin.com .. get off of here..
    at 15 bill pre from anyone non the less with the influence of msft and the top guy in the most explosive region on this planet ..with 300+ employees all in the same building in a earthquake zone and not even 200 in earnings.. their last major play was recalled and the space is diluting like a 2001 down round .if they took money off the table its almost the most incredible thing in the history of business .. but if i had his cash .. i would make the bet too!!! what else would i want to play with??? oh and i wouldnt let reid go.. not that i like him .. but he knows too much,, thats what ruppie wants!
    zwe

  24. Ed

    November 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am

    Woo…..we will soon see collaboration between HK-based Tom.com and Facebook in China (!!!)

  25. Ed

    November 30th, 2007 at 7:21 am

    @23 - What the f*!#*! did you just say?

  26. billionaire

    November 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am

    Did you know young Li Ka-shing got bully pick and beat him up in school?

    He even fired same bully guy, gangs, and school teacher’s kid. Not bad for billionaire…

  27. prviacy

    November 30th, 2007 at 8:11 am

    Every CEOs and founders should have school data.

  28. Brian Wilson

    November 30th, 2007 at 8:30 am

    Oh, Facebook — one step closer to ruling the world….

  29. AnonTroll

    November 30th, 2007 at 8:59 am

    Apparently Li Ka-Shing didn’t get the memo about Beacon’s disaster.

  30. mint question

    November 30th, 2007 at 9:09 am

    Holy crap, that guy has one HELL of a resume.

  31. WinAndFun

    November 30th, 2007 at 9:16 am

    And what is the percent for that 60$ million?

  32. Suckerberg

    November 30th, 2007 at 9:22 am

    Seriously everyone, wake up, Zuckerberg is 23 years old. What does a 23 year old other than making bold shameless statements like this is the dawn of a new advertising age with peer-to-peer recommendation aka Beacon aka privacy invasion.

  33. Shams

    November 30th, 2007 at 10:10 am

    Looks like Mr. Zuckerberg is driving Facebook very well.

  34. life partner

    November 30th, 2007 at 1:55 pm

    that is wonderfull adding money on money, increased value that means more traffic and link popularity and pagerank..good

  35. Towerone

    December 2nd, 2007 at 1:17 pm

    Facebook a social network fad or sustainable business? Take the ‘When will Facebook die?’ poll at towerone.com

  36. Witx

    December 3rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    HONG KONG, Dec 3, 2007 (AFP) - TOM Group, a media company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, denied on Monday reports that it had made any investment in the hugely popular social networking website, Facebook.

    “The company advised that it has not made any investment in Facebook,” Tom Group, in which the 79-year-old is a majority shareholder, said in a statement issued to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

    “The company further advised that from time to time it explores investment opportunities and other commercial alliances,” it said, adding it would disclose any deals that would be required to inform the stock exchange. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital blog reported that Li, Asia’s richest man, has invested 60 million dollars in Facebook with a right to acquire another 60 million dollar stake.

    Citing unnamed sources, the report said the deal came through a Facebook investor, who introduced the company to Solina Chau, director of the Li Ka-shing Foundation and a major stockholder in Tom.com.

    It also said Li’s investment could lead to closer links between the website and Tom.com and that he was making the investment through another entity rather than via his Hong Kong conglomerates - Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa. The two companies hold a total of 37 percent stake in TOM Group.

    A spokeswoman for Hutchison Whampoa would not comment on the report. The news has caused a surge in the company’s share prices by as much as 50 percent on Monday.

    The report came on the heels of a 240-million-dollar investment in Facebook by Microsoft last month in a deal valuing the website at 15 billion dollars.

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