Let’s start with the current state of affairs.  Andreessen told Reuters, "This calendar year they’ll do over $500 million."  Which isn’t bad by any means.

Then there’s a "what might be" scenario.  Andreessen continued, "If they pushed the throttle forward on monetization they would be doing more than a billion this year."  Better still.

And finally, even if Facebook pursues other things right now (Andreessen did indicate that growth’s a higher priority), we arrive at a near-certain future.  "There’s every reason to expect in my view that the thing can be doing billions in revenue five years from now," Andreessen said.

Facebook fans should be pleased to hear this news.  Employees and current investors are sure to take note, as well.

Given that Facebook recently named a new CFO, the timing of Andressen’s comments might even indicate that an IPO is planned for the not-too-distant future, in which case plenty more people will get a chance to benefit.

Andreessen serves on the boards of both eBay and Facebook, and is a chairman of the board of Ning, which he also co-founded. His biggest claim to fame was co-founding Netscape.

Horowitz also has background with Netscape. There he ran several product divisions. He co-founded LoudCloud with Andreessen. This became Opsware, which was later acquired by HP. Horowitz served as vice president and general manager of HP’s Business Technology Organization Unit.

The new firm will focus on investments within the range of $50 thousand to $50 million. The duo also announced its first round of funding at $300 million aimed at entrepreneurs, products, and companies in the tech industry.

"Innovation is thriving despite the current economic climate," says Andreessen. "Ben and I are huge supporters of entrepreneurs and want to help turn today’s sparks of brilliance into the next big thing."

"We see venture investing as a company-specific exercise," says Horowitz. "Therefore, we are looking for the best entrepreneurs and companies regardless of stage."

Andreesen outlines some things they are looking for out of entrepreneurs and companies on his blog. They want motivated entrepreneurs, technical founders, founders that intend to be CEOs, and founders that understand their products.

The firm is looking to invest in categories like consumer Internet, business Internet, mobile software/services, software-powered consumer electronics, infrastructure and apps software, networking, storage, and databases.

The firm is NOT looking to invest in "clean", "green", energy, transportation, life sciences (biotech, drug design, medical devices), nanotech, movie production companies, consumer retail, electric cars, rocket ships, space elevators.

eBay is in less than great shape right now.  Three-month, one-year, and five-year views of its stock show losses of 24.95, 47.50, and 23.2 percent, respectively.  Meanwhile, Compete puts the site’s number of unique visitors on a downward trajectory, and we all know how sellers have responded to recent policy changes.

So is Andreessen stepping onto a sinking ship?  We’ll leave the issue for you to discuss.  But if that’s the case, perhaps he’s packing a crate full of pumps and caulk.

John Donahoe, eBay’s CEO, said in a statement, "Marc is a true visionary whose experience will be invaluable to eBay.  We look forward to learning from Marc’s insights and expertise as we drive further innovation on our platform, invest in growth opportunities and develop technology that will further benefit our customers, build powerful communities and enhance e-commerce."

Keep an eye out for more changes, then, and if they’re of a "social" nature, you’ll have a good idea of their origin.

Qik has gained popularity among the tech blogger and citizen journalism circles, thanks to its ability to capture live video and stream it over the Internet. Its integration capabilities with Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and others will likely propel its status well beyond this demographic and into teen popularity.

A high profile investment could be just what the doctor ordered to help Qik achieve such widespread use. The mere fact that teenagers are tied to their mobile phones and social networks would suggest a big future for a service like Qik.

Of course, Qik isn’t the only service of its kind. Competitors like Kyte and Livecast will likely be courted by others with deep pockets as this section of the industry grows full force.

Andreessen will bring plenty of experience to the table.  He co-founded both Netscape and Ning, and his work at another company earned him a spot as AOL’s CTO.  Also, Andreessen’s enthusiasm for social media is strong enough that he even invested in the business behind Facebook’s FoodFight app.

 Marc Andreessen

Andreessen’s connection to Ning has been pointed to as a possible conflict of interest in this latest development; the company’s tagline is "Create your own social network for anything."  But in reality, Ning and Facebook aren’t often mentioned in the same breath.  It’s conceivable that a Ning-Facebook deal is on the way, as well, and regardless, Andreessen and Mark Zuckerberg are known to be friends.

Michael Arrington reports, then, "The board position Andreessen has taken is one of the two vacant common stock seats Zuckerberg controls in addition to his own seat.  One of those seats has never been filled.  The other was previously held by former Facebook President Sean Parker, who left the company in late 2005."

So it looks like Andreessen will function as a much-needed warm body, too.

Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame finally saw a massive return on his Loudcloud/Opsware venture, as the company picked an all-cash deal from Hewlett Packard. Automation looked like the way of the future in several traditional lines of business, like automotive and others with repetitive chores. Andreessen wrote at his Pmarca blog how his vision of automating large-scale datacenters and computer systems paid off big.

The legendary dot-com bust winnowed the competition in the field, he noted:

Loudcloud took off like a rocketship, raised $350 million in equity and debt financing, went public in March 2001, and was rapidly nearing $100 million in annual recurring managed services revenue when the entire market blew up and virtually all of our competitors and peers went bankrupt.

In September 2002, we did a complete restart as a public company — we sold our managed services business to EDS and turned Loudcloud into Opsware, a software company based on the core intellectual property developed at Loudcloud.

Andreessen touted Opsware’s position as a market leader in process automation. The client list for the company includes Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Home Depot, and the Department of Defense.

HP’s offer works out to $14.25 per share. Opsware stock boomed from a $10.28 open to $14.04 at press time.