Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the popular social networking site Facebook, has announced that the number of people using the site has reached 250 million.
“The rapid pace of our growth is humbling and exciting for us,” Zuckerberg said in a message posted at Facebook’s official blog.
“For us, growing to 250 million users isn’t just an impressive number; it is a mark of how many personal connections all of you have made.”
Facebook was founded in 2004 out of Palo Alto, California and has become the most popular online social networking site, surpassing MySpace.
It was revealed on Monday that Digital Sky Technologies (DST), a Russian Internet company, is offering to purchase $100 million worth of stock from Facebook employees in a deal that would value the fast-growing social network at $6.5 billion.
DST invested $200 million in Facebook in May, and is offering $14.77 a share of Facebook common stock.
Jennifer Gill, a DST spokeswoman, said that the tender offer would close “some time in August.”
According to Zuckerberg, that the decision on whether or not to sell stock was up to employees, and that the offer “is a recognition of Facebook’s growth and progress towards making the world more open and connected.”
Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $240 million in 2007, which valued the company at $15 billion.
Although the company’s growth has been impressive to the industry, Facebook has yet to prove how it is going to translate traffic into cash.
“As of today, 250 million people are using Facebook to stay updated on what’s happening around them and share with the people in their lives,” Zuckerberg said in the Wednesday blog post.
“As we celebrate our 250 millionth user, we are also continuing to develop Facebook to serve as many people in the world in the most effective way possible. This means reaching out to everyone across the world.”
—
On the Net:
Comments