February 13, 2009 by Mark Isle
Microsoft’s 2007 investment in social networking leader Facebook valued the company at $15 billion dollars. Analysts were sceptical about this figure at the time and since then the valuation has become something of a standing joke.
The scepticism surrounding the figure appears to be well grounded after it emerged yesterday that a Facebook appraisal, used to decide the value of employee stock options, valued the social network at a mere $3.7 billion dollars. The valuation was discussed last summer in a closed court hearing relating to a lawsuit by some of Mark Zuckerberg’s former classmates who now run rival social network, Connect U.
This figure has only come to light thanks to Associated Press, who managed to crack the blacked out court documents revealing the figure to the world.
Strangely, this is the second leak from that case in as many days. On Wednesday the law firm representing Zuckerberg’s classmates included information about a settlement payment they received from Facebook, including the amount, in a company brochure. This violated an agreement between the parties that the particulars of the settlement would remain between them.
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