As you note, Yahoo has made some great acquisitions with savvy early buys. It's hard to believe that Facebook is not fully valued or even over-valued today. While there is lot's of activity on the Facebook platform it seems to me the jury is still out on Facebook's long-term revenue potential and whether Facebook itself will remain the "hot" property.
If there is one constant on the Internet, it's that every few months there is a new hot service. Right now, Facebook is the service of the moment.
Yup. Yahoo doesn't get much credit for being "early" on things like Flickr and del.icio.us. Given Photobucket went for $300M+, you would have to think Flickr would at least be in that range today if it were still independent. Yahoo got it for around $30M.
Plus, I don't know what exactly "investing" in Facebook gets them. Whereas Microsoft would be preserving its ad deal, it's not really clear what Yahoo would gain other than making money on their investment if Facebook continues to go up in value.
Mike Mothner
· 2 years ago
Although Yahoo's may be considering an investment, I still believe that they will not stay in the running. Microsoft seems to me to be the front-runner in this bidding war for Facebook and I believe they will in fact come out on top.
Adam Ostrow
· 2 years ago
Agreed. If any deal happens at all. This is one of the longer-running rumors out there ...
Adam Hirsch
· 2 years ago
I think Mark Z has made it clear that they are their own entity and not looking to sell. Now Microsoft is only looking for a 5% stake, but perhaps Yahoo is smarter and looking for a more unique strategy?? My guess is some sort of integration with Yahoo! services or even MyYahoo.
I'd be surprised if Facebook went with Microsoft since it brings so little to the table beyond cash.
Douglas
· 2 years ago
I'm sorry but I still can't believe what FB is being valued at, and what the major players sound like they are willing to spend. I just don't see that much return on investment, considering that there really isn't much that makes FB stand out. They could be easily reproduced by a couple people in a basement in a couple months.
I'm sure I am not giving FB enough credit, but 40 billion???
It's not just you, Douglas. I would love to see detailed, real world, analysis of how that valuation is reached.
It's a social network with a loyal user base. And... ?
jas
· 2 years ago
You may be able to knock up a clone in a couple of months but getting the traffic,members and traction is another story my friend !!
Darren
· 2 years ago
mmmm, if you got past the the anti hype that MS gets you would realise that they are one of the best tech companies out there. If they bought their knowledge of building great development tools to the platform then facebook could become a platform.
Cameron Chapman
· 2 years ago
From what I have heard, Mark Zuckerberg has no intentions of selling out to anyone. His goal is to BE the next Google, not be bought out by them or any of their competitors. I think that it's unlikely that they're going to budge on that, at least in the immediate future. They've turned down buy-out offers in the past, and I don't see that anything has changed to make them reconsider at this point.
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If there is one constant on the Internet, it's that every few months there is a new hot service. Right now, Facebook is the service of the moment.
Bruce Judson
Founder, Search Free Apps
www.SearchFreeApps.com
Plus, I don't know what exactly "investing" in Facebook gets them. Whereas Microsoft would be preserving its ad deal, it's not really clear what Yahoo would gain other than making money on their investment if Facebook continues to go up in value.
- Adam Hirsch, Mashable.com
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
I'm sure I am not giving FB enough credit, but 40 billion???
-Doug
www.informativepost.com
It's a social network with a loyal user base. And... ?