Facebook, the world's largest social media network, has raised $500 million from investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs and a Russian investment group that values the privately held company at $50 billion, according to the New York Times.
$450 million came from Goldman and Digital Sky Technologies ponied up the remaining $50 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly looking into the growing trade in privately held shares of popular social media networking sites. Once a company reaches 500 shareholders, it must publicly disclose certain financial information, even if it hasn't filed for an initial public offering. Shares of privately held companies can be traded on private stock exchanges like SharesPost and SecondMarket. The shares are usually sold by former employees or early investors. Only institutions or people high worth more than $1 million can buy the shares. On SharesPost, Facebook's shares were valued at $25 each. According to the New York Times, the deal may double Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's personal wealth, estimated to be $6.9 billion by Forbes magazine.
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