14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Vista may as well be the best $6 billion Bill Gates has ever spent, particularly when developing a Windows platform, but the scenario could repeat itself, this time with the acquisition of a future social operating system. Microsoft failed to confirm speculations revealing that it is bidding no less than $6 billion for Facebook. The fact of the matter is that while the Microsoft - Facebook acquisition rumor is up and about, neither of the two parties allegedly involved are discussing even the smallest details. This alone is of course not enough to deny Microsoft's potentially huge leap into the social networking market, but manages to hint that an acquisition is unlikely.
However, analyst Henry Blodget forecasted the Microsoft - Facebook marriage, and even provided the price tag for the wedding. "No, of course we can't confirm it. But it makes sense, don't you think? Steve Ballmer, desperate and furious, sick of sucking wind in the Internet game, sick of losing every Internet in-play company and much of the future to You Know Who, sick of feeling like a has-been also-ran, raiding the bank account and snapping up the hottest company on earth. The fly in the ointment: $6 billion's a nice fat number, but it's only 1/25th of Google's valuation, and the Facebook folks clearly think they're worth more than that. So maybe Steve will have to throw in another $5 or $10. Or $20. Or maybe Mark Zuckerberg will just tell him to go...home," Blodget stated on his blog.
By opening up Facebook to third-party developers, what was once a social networking hotspot, now has evolved into an online platform. In this context, the Facebook environment has all the right ingredients to become a social operating system, according to Bay Partners, as cited by SeattlePI, starting with the user base and continuing with the programs' marketplace. And Microsoft is not the only company interested in Facebook. Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, informed that the Mountain View search giant is more than willing to sit down with Facebook and discuss an acquisition. The only aspect getting in the way of such a scenario - according to Brin - is that Facebook's Zuckerberg is not interested in selling.