The software giant Microsoft managed to sign an impressive deal with the famous social network website Facebook which will make the Redmond company the exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for the network. What's most impressive is that Microsoft also received a $240 million stake from Facebook, which is pretty impressive if we think that the social network website grew up a lot and reported approximately 200,000 new users every day. In addition, Microsoft will bring ads to the international versions of Facebook, the Redmond-based company being able to target new segments of users from all over the world.

"We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level," said Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook. "We think this expanded relationship will allow Facebook to continue to innovate and grow as a technology leader and major player in social computing, as well as bring relevant advertising to nearly 50 million active users of Facebook."

In the recent period, Facebook was an attractive technology for all the companies around the world, Google being only one of those interested in collaborating with the social networking website. For example, earlier this week, the Mountain View company rolled out a special Facebook application which brings the Google News straight on the profile pages of the registered members.

"Making this investment and expanding this partnership will position Microsoft and Facebook to better take advantage of advertising opportunities around the world, and is a great win for not only for our two companies, but also our collective users and advertisers", said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft.

"We have partnered well over the past year and look forward to doing some exciting things together in the future. The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is a big reason we have decided to take an equity stake, and is a strong statement of our confidence in the long-term economics of this partnership.", he also added.