Is Facebook worth $10b?
The blogosphere is all excited about Microsoft supposedly considering an investment in faccebook at a $10b rate. I still don’t get it. Since the YouTube acquisition the numbers are flying sky high. I think calmer heads should prevail. But oh, well.
Let’s see, there was Prodigy, then AOL, then MySpace, and now Facebook. All of them make sense particularly when the break from the pack, however, long term I think you still need to watch for the pack is doing. My nieces are all on facebook, but then again they jump from network to network.
In my mind, Microsoft–especially as a platform company–should have been working all along to devalue networks like these. How? By providing tools to build them. Instead this was left to PostNuke or PHP or Ruby developers or whomever. Of course, this isn’t where the immediate dollars would have been, but it would have changed the game significantly and I bet we would have been evaluating the social networks more like print media than tech media–because the tech part would have been mitigated.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing if Microsoft wants to invest in facebook in exchange for premium ad placement. It’s not a bad idea as long as they don’t go overboard and pay $6b for something. 
Oh, the times are ripe for those that can tell a good story.
Update: Now here is a good deal to me: EchoStar to buy Sling Media. Just at the right time for Sling Media as their technology sees encroaching competitors.