8 May 2008
Microsoft has allegedly approached Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, over a possible acquisition of the social networking site.
It is believed that Microsoft is eyeing up Facebook’s level of interest for a potential bid following a failed £24.3 billion takeover of Yahoo!, the online search engine, on Saturday. It is not thought that there are any active talks between Microsoft and Facebook.
Last October, Microsoft took a $240 million stake in Facebook, which valued the site at about $15 billion. Although Mr Zuckerberg has resisted selling the entire company, indicating instead that he would prefer to float the group, it is not known what his response to Microsoft has been.
During March ‘07, Li Ka-shing, one of Asia’s most successful investors, doubled his stake in Facebook, underlining the site’s implied value of $15 billion. The site is regarded as a prize asset because of the loyalty of its 70 million users.
However, any bid to take over the social networking site would attract the wrath of Facebook's staunchly anti-Microsoft community
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