General Atlantic, a $17 billion investment firm, will soon become the latest investor in Facebook, buying one tenth of one percent of the company in a deal that values the social networking giant at $65 billion, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.
CNBC.com
While the deal between General Atlantic and selling shareholders has been agreed to, it'll require the approval of Facebook and so has not yet been closed.
The last large investment in Facebook, organized on behalf of its clients by Goldman Sachs, was $1.5 billion, which valued Facebook at $50 billion, meaning that in the intervening six weeks, the company's value has apparently grown by another 30 percent.
The General Atlantic investment involved the purchase of a block of roughly 2.5 million shares of stock from former employees.
General Atlantic, which typically makes investments of between $50 million and $500 million in both private and public growth companies, has invested in other net darlings such as Gilt Groupe and Ali Baba.
The focus of investors on Facebook has been intense; and for those who want to find stock to buy, the process is equally ferocious, requiring calls to numerous ex-employees and large holders of the stock from its early days.
A General Atlantic spokesperson did not respond to calls or emails. Facebook declined to comment.
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