Thursday, September 21, 2006

Facebook in Talks with Strategic Buyer

An article in this morning's WSJ suggests that the popular Web 2.0 site, Facebook is in acquisition talks with Yahoo! to sell the company in the ballpark of $1 billion. Though this valuation seems high, it is significantly more reasonable than the $2 billion dollar amount it was expecting from Microsoft in the recent past.

My prediction is that Facebook should pursue this sale with Yahoo! aggressively. They have penetrated the college market and are trying to find other growth opportunities by opening up the site to anyone with an email address. This move could dilute the user experience and sour their current dedicated user base.

Additionally, as the article reports, the current audience is young Internet-savvy students who are prone to switching sites. While the site is still hot, it is in the best interest of investors to exit.

It's time the Harvard sophomore hand over the reigns of the company to a Columbia MBA to help him exit!

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