Although that’s below the $15 billion valuation that was placed on the social network when Microsoft invested $240 million for a small stake back in 2007, it’s significantly higher than recent speculation that placed the value of Facebook as low as $2-3 billion.
As part of the deal, Facebook employees are cashing in some of their shares. According to a statement from the company “DST has indicated that it is planning to offer to purchase at least $100 million of Facebook common stock from existing common stockholders that would facilitate liquidity for current and former employees' vested shares in the company.”
If the name DST doesn’t immediately ring a bell, it’s probably because most of its investments are outside of the US. But, so are most of Facebook’s users, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg points out. "We've worked hard to bring more than 200 million people - 70 percent outside of the U.S. - onto Facebook to share with friends, family and co-workers. A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out because of the global perspective they bring,” he said.
Recent stats show that Facebook has grown more than 300 percent in Europe in the past year, and is the number one or two social network in all countries except for Germany (#4), Russia (#7) and Portugal (#3).