Microsoft is the tech behemoth now associated (via a massive ad deal) with Facebook, while Google is the tech behemoth associated (via a massive ad deal) with MySpace. Doesn’t it seem like those should be opposite?

MySpace is the somewhat boring, ugly, stale giant that seems almost stagnant these days. Not unlike Microsoft.
Facebook is the hot, can’t-miss up-and-comer growing at an incredible rate. Not unlike Google.

So how did the seemingly opposites attract? Well, money. After losing out on the MySpace ad deal – and before that the AOL deal – and lets not forget the DoubleClick deal (still pending for Google, but maybe Microsoft’s move today will help it through…), Microsoft was likely willing to go as high as it took to get Facebook.

Most people would agree that a $15 billion dollar valuation for Facebook right now is pretty crazy – lets not forget that only a year ago, Facebook was negotiating with Yahoo at around $1 billion – yes one. $15 billion is actually the number Facebook is said to have come back with when Microsoft first came at them with an offer that would have put their worth at “a mere” $10 billion. Most companies would negotiate back from that and meet somewhere in the middle – hence the term negotiate – Microsoft, it appears just said “screw it” and met their number.

Perhaps Google was willing to go that high, but Microsoft probably would have kept going higher. There comes a point where an investment simply doesn’t make any sense. I mean for basically a quarter of a billion dollars Microsoft got a whopping 1.6% of Facebook. By comparison, Steve Jobs personally owns 6% of Disney himself.

Amazingly the Microsoft deal doesn’t even appear to be Facebook’s biggest of the day as supposedly they’ve already wrapped up another $500 million in investments. Wow.