Microsoft courting Facebook? | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft courting Facebook?

online.wsj.com

13 pointssanj12 comments

I bet they offer less than $15 Billion.

Now, granted this purchase would align with their current business goals to cater to younger, hipper customers (hence their recent advertising shift) supporting their Zune and XBox businesses.

But why aren't they courting LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a more professional (read: worthwhile) business model, one that would actually gel with Microsoft. Additionally, the purchase of LinkedIn would complement their business service offering and allow them to expand their B2B business to compete with IBM, especially in the small business area. I'm baffled by this one...

Agreed about the linked in point. FB brand would suffer from day one under MS. Linked in brand would not. Simple as that.

Why does MS seem so desperate to make a move for the sake of making a move right now? It feels as if the failure of Vista has shaken their confidence in their ability to deliver software anymore so now they are trying to become a player in a different field to compensate. It feels weird to me, I wonder what's been going on behind closed doors over there.

Could be a gambit to play at Yahoo!'s insecurity. You know, how you start acting like you're going out with another girl to make your ex jealous.

Hmm, that is true but to be honest, it reeks of desperation.

Would Microsoft really offer something substantially more than $15 Billion? Their last investment never really was a $15 Billion valuation because MS received an advertising deal as well as stock in exchange for their money, but I would think Facebook would demand a substantial premium over that $15B anyway.

I think an acquisition of Facebook won't happen, partly because I don't think Zuckerberg is interested in selling, and that's why the sale didn't go through before when MS and Yahoo offered over a billion. But the other reason I think it won't happen is because Facebook's valuation is really hard to peg right now, before we see what kind of stuff is really built with their platform. If multiple hundered-million-dollar companies and maybe a billion-dollar company or two are built from Facebook Apps, than FB is probably significantly undervalued at $15B. However, if the Facebook platform continues to primarily be a way to throw sheep at people and provide an outlet for widgets from companies that were already valuable before Facebook (Slide, RockYou), $15B is probably too much. It therefore might make sense for all parties to wait and see what happens.

most of the significant apps are cross-social-network and their value is not based on Fb alone.

>>> I think an acquisition of Facebook won't happen, partly because I don't think Zuckerberg is interested in selling, and that's why the sale didn't go through before when MS and Yahoo offered over a billion.

The sale didn't go through BECAUSE they offered him one billion. I'm sure if they came along with more a couple of years ago, he would have sold.

Personally, I hope they IPO. That stock will be amazing to short after the IPO pushes the stock price at least 50% higher than it should be.

Buying facebook would be a nice play, but it would be more like putting all your eggs into one basket as yahoo has more unique properties, including gems like flickr.

However, many people feel the future of search is through social networks, that is, seeing what my friends think/have bought before I go off on my own to try and figure things out is a pretty compelling reason to invest in a high growth social network.

Although I'm sure most MS engineers are sweating given facebook's platofrm.

It comes down to facebooks long term viability as a property on the net.

they've been courting, in fact the 240mm investment made by them already was a gesture of good will towards FB from MSFT

what sources of revenue does facebook have at the moment?

has it actually made ANY money yet?

CPM ads and a custom PPC ad platform.

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