Business
Facebook Raises $500 Million At $50 Billion Valuation

It’s a happy new year indeed for Mark Zuckerberg and everyone with financial ties to Facebook.  Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies have invested $500 million in the company, according to a new report, and in doing so, valued it at $50 billion.

A couple points of reference: it was only 38 months ago that Microsoft drew laughter by paying $240 million for a 1.2 percent stake in Facebook, valuing it at $15 billion.  And Yahoo and eBay just have market caps of about $21.7 billion and $36.3 billion, respectively.

Business
Report Indicates DST Won’t Lead Twitter Funding Round

Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian investment firm that’s pretty well poured money into Facebook (and also funded Groupon and Zynga), apparently won’t be providing Twitter with any cash in the near future.  A report’s indicated that Kleiner Perkins will instead be the organization leading a new round of funding.

Business
Major Facebook Backer Hints At Further Investments

Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian investment firm that’s poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Facebook, is preparing to go on the hunt again.  Its founding partner and CEO, Yuri Milner, talked this weekend about making additional investments, and also said a little about Facebook’s worth.

Business
Facebook Investor To Put $1B Into Social Media

The Russian investment firm that’s contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Facebook’s bank accounts is not even close to ending its involvement with social media.  According to Yuri Milner, who’s the CEO and founding partner of Digital Sky Technologies, his organization is interested in doling out another $1 billion.