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      Social networking behemoth Facebook has raised $500 million from
Goldman Sachs and a Russian investment firm in a deal that values
the company at $50 billion, The New York Times reported.


      Goldman invested $450 million and Digital Sky Technologies
invested $50 million, the newspaper reported Sunday in its online
edition, citing people involved in the transaction that it did not
name. Goldman has the right to sell part of its stake, up to $75
million, to the Russian firm.


      The report said representatives for Facebook, Goldman and
Digital Sky Technologies declined to comment.


      The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly
looking into the booming trade in privately held shares of popular
social networking sites. A big reason the SEC may be curious about
the trading of these popular private startups' shares is because
once a company hits 500 shareholders, it must disclose certain
financial information to the public, even if it hasn't filed for an
initial public offering.


      The Times reported that Goldman is planning to create a
"special purpose vehicle" that may be able to circumvent the 500
shareholder rule because it would be managed by Goldman and
considered just one investor, even though it could conceivably be
pooling investments from thousands of clients.


      Shares of privately held companies can be traded on private
stock exchanges such as SecondMarket, based in New York, and
SharesPost, based in San Bruno, California. The shares are
generally sold by former employees or early investors in these
companies. Only institutional investors or high net-worth
individuals - those worth more than $1 million - can buy the
shares.

      But for those who can sell them, the market is on fire. On
SharesPost, a completed contract between a buyer and a seller
valued shares of Palo Alto, California-based Facebook at $25 each.
This implies a valuation of nearly $57 billion for the world's
largest social network, with 500 million-plus users worldwide.


      Facebook recently tightened its privacy settings after criticism
that personal information was being disseminated without users'
knowledge or permission. Founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Time
magazine's "Person of the Year" and was the subject of a
high-profile movie about Facebook's creation. Zuckerberg, who owns
about a quarter of Facebook's shares, is one of the world's
youngest billionaires.


      The newspaper said the deal may double Zuckerberg's personal
fortune, which Forbes estimated at $6.9 billion when Facebook was
valued at $23 billion.
      

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Science

Social networking behemoth Facebook has raised $500 million from
Goldman Sachs and a Russian investment firm in a deal that values
the company at $50 billion, The New York Times reported.

Report says Facebook nets $500 million investment

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