14 DAY TRIAL // Russian tech investment group Digital Sky Technologies is looking to invest $200 million in Facebook, valuing the company at $10 billion, above most current expert estimates so far. This comes after a similar proposition that valued the company at $8.5 billion was turned down. The Russian corporation, which owns a stake in the Mail.ru web site and other Internet properties, also offered to buy 100 to 150 million dollars’ worth of shares from other shareholders, this time valuing the company at $6.5 billion.
Facebook declined to comment on the matter. "Facebook is a private company, so as a matter of policy, we don't typically share details about our financial plans or comment on rumor and speculation," the company said in a statement.
Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been keen on keeping tight control over the company's board of directors. He has previously turned down a proposition valuing the company at $8.5 billion because it made the requirement of having a seat on the board. The Russian firm, owned by businessman and internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner, apparently also wants a seat and this might be a problem for the move. If the deal were to go through, Digital Sky Technologies may try to merge some of its properties, like Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki.ru, Nasza-Klasa.pl and vKontakte.ru, with Facebook at some point in the future. vKontakte.ru is a social network very popular in Russia, with some 35 million users.
There aren't many official reports on the matter and Zuckerberg says that these are just rumors for now. "Some of the rumblings that people are reporting on, are just different conversations that have happened, but there's really nothing new to talk about there."
Facebook got its last major funding from Microsoft in 2007 when the software giant paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake, thus evaluating the company's value at $15 billion. There have been rumors that Facebook is short on cash but for now there are no official statements regarding the supposed deal.