Facebook has seen a tremendous growth since it was started in 2004 as a social networking site. The site attracted a lot of members and some investors saw an opportunity where they could increase their sales using internet marketing through the social site and some of them started approaching the founders of Facebook to buy some of the company’s shares. Some offers were rejected while some were accepted and the prices were decided through valuations.
Whether Facebook investors will eventually lose their investments depends on who you ask. The companies or individuals who invested in Facebook have already earned huge returns from their investments and are still reaping more since the site is still a leading one when it comes to social networking. Many investors are Russian for example the Digital Sky Technologies
The following are some Facebook valuations since it was founded:
- October 2007- Microsoft bought a 1.6% in the company stake which placed Facebook at $15 billion valuation
- May 2009- Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies bought a 2 % stake at $200 million
- November 2010 – Venture capital firm Accel Partners sold less than 15% of its investment at a price of $517 million
- December 2010- The average valuation of Facebook based on transactions had risen to $56 billion
However, there are some offers that were rejected like the $1 billion offer by Yahoo on September 2006 to buy the company. At this time, Yahoo was competing with Microsoft to own the part of or all the whole company as they saw a very great investment opportunity owing to the fast rise in popularity of the site. There are rumors that Facebook may offer some of its shares to the public through an initial public offer that is likely to be offered soon and this may see the company’s valuation rise to $100 billion.
Some people feel that Facebook valuations are overestimated. The valuations are based on what minority investors have paid to own a very small stake of the company but if this was applied to the whole company, the valuations would be way less that the estimated total valuation. Also, the amount would be way less if standard valuation methodologies were used.
Facebook may soon experience a decline in its returns owing to emergence of some alternative social networking sites like Twitter that are slowly gaining popularity but at the moment, investors in the site are safe with their investments since the social network is still a popular one among many people.
Remember that Facebook may be nothing compared to some big players in the credit score industry. You need to focus on industries that the mainstream media does not cover and are still very good to enter.