Will the Belle of the Facebook Ball Be Named Later Today?
It’s not much of a secret that most of the big names in tech have been in and out of the Facebook offices in recent weeks most likely hoping to be chosen as the belle that lands the beau of social networking. The anticipation could end as soon as today according to Fortune’s Tech Daily blog.
Word is that Facebook’s board of directors (which I can’t help but picture is Mark Zuckerberg sitting in a chair that’s too big for him surrounded by a bunch of suits) will be meeting tomorrow to make a decision about taking on another round of investments. To me this means four possible things: Microsoft? Yahoo? Google? or more VC money?
The Microsoft potential buy-in has been garnering the most buzz, but Yahoo shouldn’t be overlooked here riding high off of its good news about 3rd quarter earnings. Google, of course, can never been overlooked. Or maybe Facebook will simply opt to take some more VC money (is there any doubt that they could probably secure a blank check at this point?) for a long stretch leading up to an endgame that will quite likely be an IPO.
Keep an eye on those News Feeds to see if Facebook suddenly switches to ‘In A Relationship’.
…Or maybe one of them will step out, see their shadow, and it’ll be 6 more months of negotiating.
[UPDATE]: No belle announced just yet, but Zuckerberg did give some very juicy vague answers…
On the funding negotiations from the suitors:
“It’s going well. We’re almost wrapped up.”
On making more revenue in the future:
“Well there might be something in ads,” Zuckerberg replied. “In the next few months there might be something in that.”
And finally on an IPO:
“You have years before that event,” said Zuckerberg. “I’m not saying it’s never going to happen. But it’s definitely years out.”
…So the suitor (or VC) with the new funding should be announced very soon – they’re going to be getting more serious about advertising – and by far the most solid IPO “confirmation” yet.