WebProNews

No company can hope to have more customers than there are people on the earth.  Before hitting that limit, though, it looks like Facebook could run into some other issues, and they may cause Microsoft to have second thoughts about its $240 million investment.

That investment acted as an endorsement of a $15 billion valuation; it was also, one might assume, based on the user data Facebook has supplied, and that generally suggested a growth rate of at least 3 percent per week.

Now, Owen Thomas writes, “The first version of Facebook’s press release supported that oft-told tale, saying that the social network was adding an average of 250,000 users a day.  But then Facebook revised the press release, putting the figure at 200,000 users.  Do the math, and you’ll see that that translates to a weekly growth rate of 2.8 percent.”

The difference between 3.0 and 2.8 shouldn’t cause any lawsuits - Thomas notes, “[I]t means that Facebook is now doubling every six months, rather than every 4.5 months.  Still, it’s below the magic 3 percent number Facebook has been giving out up until now.”

Assuming Microsoft wasn’t informed of this change before the $240 million deal went through, you have to wonder how its leaders feel.  And regardless of what Microsoft was told, there are now even more questions about how Facebook’s $15 billion valuation will hold up.