The world’s largest social network: Facebook

The world’s largest social network: Facebook
    Facebook is a social network service and website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users and this makes Facebook turns to be the largest social network in the world. In this article, I want so illustrate the main important steps which make Facebook successful and their financing process. Besides, I may also discuss some reasons why Facebook doesn’t want to be acquired.
    First of all, I want to introduce the established progress and financing steps of Facebook. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. Then it was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. Weather the original idea is Mark’s or not, he made a big success. With this success, Zuckberberg and his friends moved out to Palo Alto for the summer and rented a sublet. A few weeks later, Zuckberberg ran into the former cofounder of Napster, Sean Parker. Parker soon moved in to Zuckerberg’s apartment and they began working together. With the Facebook development, they found their first investor, Peter Thiel, invested $500,000 into Facebook. After that, Facebook success got through the venture capital financing for five times. They are $12.7 million in funding from Accel Partners in 2005, $25 million in funding from Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital in 2006, $240 million from Microsoft in October 2007, $150 million from Li Ka-shing financing and $200
The world’s largest social network: Facebook 3

million from a Russian company. The total valuation is over $15 billion by now,             making Facebook the 5th most valuable US Internet company (“Facebook,” 2010, November).
    Meanwhile, during the past six years, Facebook turned down few acquisition offers. The main two acquisition offers are from Yahoo... [continues]

Read full essay

Cite This Essay

APA

(2010, 12). The World's Largest Social Network: Facebook. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 12, 2010, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-World-s-Largest-Social-Network-Facebook-521276.html

MLA

"The World's Largest Social Network: Facebook" StudyMode.com. 12 2010. 12 2010 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-World-s-Largest-Social-Network-Facebook-521276.html>.

CHICAGO

"The World's Largest Social Network: Facebook." StudyMode.com. 12, 2010. Accessed 12, 2010. http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-World-s-Largest-Social-Network-Facebook-521276.html.