There are a bunch of amazing metrics from this story alone: Microsoft said it will pay $240 million for a tiny 1.6% stake in Facebook, a deal that would correspondingly value Facebook at $15 billion overall, or about $5 per user for a company that currently generates only $150 million in revenue. Whew...
In related news, Facebook's founder just finished slamming carriers in a keynote at the CTIA IT and Entertainment show for their unwillingness to embrace open access. Is this a company that will one day live up to its showy metrics, and its youthful arrogance? Carriers, unfortunately, may need to decide to work with Facebook on its own terms before that question can be fully answered.
For more:
- BusinessWeek covers the deal