Facebook makes Sofa its latest manquisition. Facebook’s string of talent acquisitions continued today with the announcement that it has purchased an Amsterdam-based software and design company called Sofa. As with most of Facebook’s past acquisitions, the social networking company is pretty open about the fact that it’s buying the company for the team, not the product — a move sometimes called an “acqhire” or a “manquisition”. In fact, Sofa says that its products are not part of the deal, and that it will be working with partners “to provide the smoothest transition and best possible future” for some of its apps.
Many of these deals are framed as a way to hire top engineers, but in this case, it looks like Facebook is particularly interested in Sofa’s design skills. In a written statement, Facebook’s director of design Kate Aronowitz said, “We were just blown away by the Sofa team’s work, from their Mac and web software to the interfaces and brand identities they created for clients.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Facebook’s 50 billion valuation, in perspective. Valued At $67.5 Billion. Hits Record $75 Billion Valuation. Last week, in our weekly report on the insanely hot Facebook stock trading going on behind the scenes on SecondMarket, I wrote the following: “Do I hear $75 billion next week?” I was sort of kidding. But it looks like the joke is on me! Sure enough, Facebook did hit a $75 billion valuation on SecondMarket this week, a new record.
I thought my prediction might be a little too optimistic give that it was at a “mere” $70 billion a week ago. Shares were trading at $28 a share then, after rallying back from a few weeks of actually being down. This blows by the $28.26 and $70.65 billion valuation record set in mid-January. Below, find the full email sent out of the folks buying this stuff up: To Facebook market participants:This week’s SecondMarket auction successfully cleared 115,000 shares at a per share price of $30.00. New Record High Of $85 Billion. Valuation Approaching $100 Billion. Facebook et Google lorgnent sur Twitter.
Goldman's friends get week to mull Facebook bet. Goldman Sachs 'Friends' Facebook With Millions. Facebook Paid $8.5 Million to Acquire Fb.com. Friendfeed-Style Acquisition of Beluga? Analysis: What’s Behind Facebook’s Friendfeed-Style Acquisition of Beluga? Facebook added yet another small group of talented developers and product managers to its stable today with the acquisition of Beluga. With Facebook’s focus this year on bolstering its mobile platform and offering a Messages product that seamlessly ties the web and mobile together, Beluga is a nice fit with the company’s overall direction. Also, with Facebook acquiring not only the Beluga team but the startup’s technology, the acquisition resembles the way the company bought Friendfeed in 2009 and kept its service alive indefinitely.
Here is a bit of context for how to think about the acquisition: Group messaging, while hyped, is actually not a cheap business to run: Compared to most of the consumer-oriented startups we usually write about, group messaging has high operational costs beyond covering headcount without the immediate cashflow. That said, SMS is a major cash cow for the carriers. Mediabistro Course. Facebook Acq-Hires Career Recruiting Service Pursuit.