Word has it that a group of Facebook shareholders wants to sell up to $1 billion of stock in the private marketplace, but the company’s top executives have yet to approve of any such transaction.
This comes from five different off-the-record interviews Reuters had with people knowledgeable about the situation.
We know well that Facebook as a rule doesn’t comment on matters of speculation, which is why the company won’t say yay or nay about this particular story — to Reuters or any other media outlet that asks. If anything becomes official, then the social network will likely put out a press release.
So if this deal went through, it would become one of the largest blocks of Facebook stock ever sold.
The currently version of the proposed transaction would end up valuing the social network at $70 billion. Apparently the sellers originally wanted to value Facebook at $90 billion but prospective buyers balked.
Yes, there are buyers. But they believe that the stock needs to cool off rather than keep going higher. The last transaction involving Facebook shares valued the company at $80 billion on SharesPost earlier this month.
It’s possible that the currently proposed sale would occur on SharesPost or SecondMarket, but the specific venue for the transaction remains unclear.
The sellers include current employees of the company, and any sale would need approval of Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman plus Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.
But surely Facebook’s largest investors would have a say in this matter — or at least offer their opinions — and they might be the ones likeliest to nix the deal, if only because it might apply downward pressure to the company’s valuation.
Readers, how much do you think Facebook is really worth?
Source: All Facebook
Wednesday, April 27, 2011