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March 27, 2008

Hong Kong Billionaire Puts Another $40 Million Into Facebook

Erick Schonfeld

43 comments »

facebooklogo2.gifWhat’s another $40 million to a billionaire? Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, chairman of telecom giant Hutchison Whampoa, revealed during a conference call that he has raised his stake in Facebook by another $40 million or more. This is on top of the $60 million he previously invested.

That brings his total personal investment in the U.S. social networking site to at least $100 million. No word on whether Facebook’s $15 billion valuation has changed from when Ka-shing first joined Microsoft in putting money into the company. We’re guessing not.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Web 2.0 News & Ideas. 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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  1. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » 香港の億万長者、Facebookに$40Mを追加投入

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  3. WebMilk.ru - молочные новости Интернета » Гонконгский миллиардер инвестировал $40 миллионов в Facebook

    March 29th, 2008 at 10:47 am

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Comments

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  1. xowanna010playxo@gmail.com,

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    why would Facebook require another 40 mil ? as it worries me that a company that got so much money recently would want to sell stock , especially since facebook regards itself so highly and believes its stock is worth so much.

    Is this a case of the founders/investors on the inside realising that the facebook party is going down like a lead balloon and noone is ever going to value them at 15billion ?

    Something tells me People are jumping ship and Li-kashing doesnt have a record for smart investments ( as was highly documented in the deals he did in the 90’s). Good job Li kashing has a rich daddy whom can write his checks is he gets in trouble.

  2. jason

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    bullshit. Facebook is not worth anywhere near that. It’s a fad.

  3. bs

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    It’s not a fad. People think there will be other social networks to take it over , but i seriously doubt people are willing to register on other sites again.

    Microsoft knows what its doing too.

  4. old ecard guy

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Billionaire or not, 100MM is a significant bet considering he only wins big if Facebook goes on to achieve Google levels of success.

    Microsoft’s investment is much easier to justify (though still unproven) because they are looking at is as a strategic play.

    Someone needs to send Li kashing a mutual fund prospectus.

  5. dbiz

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Was that Ka-Shing or Ka-Ching? Couldn’t agree more with #1…I think they’ve exceeded the point where they can’t even spend the capital wisely. It’s like Linden Labs on steroids!

  6. mathew johnson

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    yeah 100% agree - li ka-shing is pretty bad at making money. when will he ever learn!

  7. Spez Smartman

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    this is the reason why we need to decentralize our information

    I love capitalism — but one problem with capitalism is that it is fueled by greed. Like too much of anything, too much greed isn’t a good thing.

    facebook (and other companies like it ) are companies that are more interested in turning profit than protecting your self interests, your profile or your data ( beacon, anyone?)

    this is all the more reason why the user needs to keep control of his/her data/identity/profile/friends

    open id/oauth/open social concepts/etc* are efforts we need to support in order to keep our personal data under our control

    ( *I have no personal interest in any of the above listed efforts )

  8. MrCashyCash

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Social Network users have no loyalty.

    The next big thing will come along & this will all be a joke.

    At least Microsoft can write it off; they got a lot of publicity out of it so not a total loss.

  9. xowanna010playxo@gmail.com,

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    capitalism is about people believing that something is worth a certain amount. Capitalism can only be compared to the travelling con men of the 19th century . If they can make you believe in something then they can sell you anything.

    As to people registering on the next social network ,thats not really an issue. here in the uk people have had many registrations ( friendsreunited,bebo,facebook,myspace ) when something is hot and all over the media every mom,grandmom,son, daughter and stranger wants to join.

    As long as you get the media hype ( in the uk, as long as you get some group to go all angst over your site ie parent groups fuming over their kids potentially meeting pervs on a site as has happened with myspace,facebook , then the media will cover it )

  10. chris

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    It’s not a fad, but without a clear revenue strategey, it’s becoming a huge bubble.

  11. JV

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    I wasn’t clear on how Facebook was going to make a big impact in the business world until I attended a demo of a CMS that is basically a Facebook skin. It totally revolutionized the way I pictured a CMS, or any project management tool. Facebook social networking functionality (subscribing to an activity feed, etc.) mapped onto project management. Brilliant.

    Facebook, if it’s smart, is going to be huge.

  12. xowanna010playxo@gmail.com,

    March 27th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    JV perhaps you can tell us more as this sounds interesting

  13. Eric Baillargeon

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    May be he should invest nearer like in the China Tencent QQ social network who make $224 million of profit in 2007 ?

  14. sky

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Please please @1 - @12, Li Ka Shing is the Chairman of Hutchison. You are confusing him with his son Victor Li who made bad investment (Still, Vicotr Li is also a billionaire). As a matter of fact, Hutchison just released last year’s earning of 25 billion USD. So, 40 million USD is nothing.

  15. Johnny Boy

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:20 pm

    Ka shing Ka-Ching!

  16. Dallas J Clark

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    I wish I simply get $250 000 of funding.

  17. Marc Fawzi

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    It’s like in Monopoly…

    If you build hotels (read: revenue) on a few lucrative spots then you’re guaranteed survival.

    If you just keep the land you eventually have to sell to those who have built hotels.

    What’s Facebook’s hotel strategy?

    Maybe they should literally buy out Habbo Hotel and charge merchants for setting up stores in the lobby.

  18. Hagia Sophia

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    One more billionare adds money to facebook…

    If this turn to be a bubble it will be the bigger bubble ever…

  19. Miguel Khoi

    March 27th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    @ xowanna010playxo@gmail.com

    Get your facts straight, Li Ka Shing’s the dad. Thou you’re right, it’s probably his kids’ idea to buy high.

  20. maneck

    March 27th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    Li Ka Shing is the dad. His maverick son with the spotty track record is Richard.

    Li Ka Shing’s nickname in Chinese is “Superman” his track record is stellar. This deal may seem odd but as Superman is involved there must be some other angle that is not apparent to us mortals…

    wait for it. all will be revealed.

  21. Fakebook

    March 27th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    The greatest scam in all internet history.
    That’s fakebook.
    They are still in business because all the PayPerPost they invest to be in the headlines at every moment.
    No real money making strategy, and myspace is still number one without spending billions in marketing.
    How many MySpace posts have you seen in T¢ lately?
    None, because M$ has that word banned across their domains.

    Wait, you didn’t know M$ controlled T¢?
    Welcome to dirty business, where ethics was dead on arrival.

  22. Chris Guthrie

    March 27th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    How could facebook be a fad when the growth rate continues to increase in an exponential rate? You show me a slow down in growth and I’ll start to listen, but until that point you don’t have a very strong argument.

  23. chinchan

    March 27th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Yes, maybe thats true. But all of this plans may have some different reasons. Maybe they are planning to increase their services to satisfy clients and most of all not just to gain but to give you more and quality services in the future plans.

  24. James Clark

    March 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    What’s another $40 million to protect your first $60 million when you have a billions.

    I don’t think Facebook is a fad, but will it sustain as new platforms and ideas come into play? Everything is happening so fast now, a competitor with a better idea can come up and get rolling fast. It may not exactly be a competitor to Facebook, but a totally different universe that draws our time and attention.

  25. 113.com

    March 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Kinda implying FB’s IPO soon…? :-)

  26. Peter Antypas

    March 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

    IPOs with no real revenue? Ummm …. didn’t we do that in Bubble 1.0?

  27. Brett

    March 27th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Would any of you buy stock if it went public?

  28. MrCashyCash

    March 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    Journalists need something to hype.

    Most mainstream media is clueless so they jump on any obvious trend.

    Luckily, the public seems to have short-term memory.

    Hype. Crash. Hype. Crash.

  29. Ka-Shing.....

    March 27th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    does not make many mistakes. he’s amazing

  30. c~

    March 27th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    well obviously he will make facebook exclusively available on 3 mobile and somehow block the other mobile carrier network from access, and from that he could acquire new customers. Just like what he did with skype, blocking the skype s60 client to roll out or access from other carrier in hk and some places in europe or australia, but selling the skype/facebook/orb service on 3.

  31. Workpost

    March 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    Ka-Ching! Facebook is rollin’ in real and imaginary money.

  32. Jeff R

    March 27th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    I think friendfeed have got the right idea

    The killer application will be when a mail provider effectively integrates with a social network

    I would love to see facebook or myspace integrate with hotmail or gmail so i can receive friend alerts or links to new photos via an rss feed into my inbox

    I think most will agree i would change my social network provider before i change my email address or mobile number

    How do you rate? http://www.yupnup.com

  33. Doron

    March 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

    this chap is worth more than 25 billion. it’s pocket money.

  34. doug

    March 27th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    anyone hear about FB shareholders selling stock? I used to work there, and I hear stories that folks who have stock have sold? Just curious.

  35. chrisco

    March 27th, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    @ #8: Exactly. And really, who wants to me on the social network owned by corporate behemoths? It’s a turn off. And one owned by NewsCorp (MySpace) is no better. Nor one owned by AOL (Bebo). FB will go public soon so the early investors can cash out to the public.

  36. Mark

    March 28th, 2008 at 5:01 am

    Facebook is not worth 15 billion, and Li Cash-ing knows that. But it isn’t entirely worthless either, because 60 million fools submitting all their personal data for market analysis cannot be wrong.

  37. Kevin Allman

    March 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    facebook is uniquely positioned because it gives developers leeway to developing money making applications on the network…that in itself will keep it going..

    Submit your startup @ Blubert - http://www.blubert.com/startup_reviews.php

  38. StrategCore

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:14 am

    The sheer number of page views per day make this network a monster advertising opportunity as a starting point (both PC and mobile). Didn’t Google also spend some time trying to figure out its early revenue model? I don’t think this investment keeps Mr. Li Ka-shing awake at night…

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