Facebook , as we all know, is not only one of the most beloved and popular platforms with billions of users, but also a "bass" for hungry executives who would like to merge with it or, even better , acquire it.
So let's see, from time to time, which companies begged for a little dose of magic from Facebook.
- An anonymous financier from New York offered $10 million.
Facebook was launched in 2004. Just four months later, the then 20-year-old Mark Zuckerberg accepted the offer, which he never took seriously.
- Friendster
Jim Scheinman, former CEO of Friendster, told VentureBeat in 2007:
"I found a small company from Harvard that we might very well acquire. It's a startup that was quite innovative for its time, it's called The Facebook."
Zuckerberg and his Harvard colleagues had rented a house in Palo Alto, California in the summer of 2004. During that time, they received a visit from some Google who wanted to acquire Facebook.
That meeting didn't go well, but Google tried again in 2007, offering to take over Facebook's international advertising. In the end, Google never managed to close the deal, but the giant's interest in the company forever reshaped Mark Zuckerberg's then-small company.
- Viacom
In the spring of 2005, Viacom offered $75 million to buy the company. Zuckerberg refused.
Viacom doesn't give up. In the fall of 2005, Zuckerberg goes to New York to meet with CEO Tom Freston, but to no avail.
A short time later, Viacom sent Facebook an offer worth $1.5 billion – $800 million in cash up front, with the rest paid later.
Facebook is almost sold, according to “The Facebook Effect,” but wanted a bigger payment up front. Viacom’s CFO refuses to pay that much for a company with such little revenue. The deal fell through. Viacom never came back.
- MySpace
In the spring of 2005, Chris DeWolfe visited Zuckerberg and his team. Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, and Matt Cohler met with DeWolfe, "but only because they found him interesting and were curious about MySpace."
During the meeting, Zuckerberg asked DeWolfe if MySpace would buy Facebook for $75 million. DeWolfe said no. When they met again later that year, Zuckerberg raised the price to $750 million, and DeWolfe again declined.
- NewsCorp, the new parent company of MySpace.
In January 2006, Ross Levinsohn, boss of News Corp, wanted to buy TheFacebook, but was worried that he would not be able to sustain its growth.
- NBC
Although not many details are offered, NBC made their own takeover attempt in 2005.
- Yahoo
In the summer of 2006, Yahoo decided to offer Facebook a billion dollars. Facebook investors and many of its executives wanted to sell, but Facebook was ready to launch the News Feed , and if it went well, Zuckerberg believed the company would be worth more than $1 billion.
After disappointing Q2 earnings, Yahoo lowered its offer to $850 million. It took Facebook's board 10 minutes to reject the reduced offer, according to "The Facebook Effect."
In the fall of 2006, Yahoo came back offering $1 billion or more, but by then, Facebook had opened the site to people beyond college students and schoolchildren.
- AOL
In mid-2006, AOL CEO Jonathan Miller decided he wanted to buy Facebook. His plan: AOL would sell MapQuest and Tegic. Time Inc. would sell IPC. Together they would offer $1 billion.
- Microsoft
"Why don't we buy you for $15 billion?" Microsoft CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked in 2007.
Determined to keep Facebook away from Google, Microsoft Steve Ballmer offered to buy the company. Ballmer knew Zuckerberg would never relinquish control of Facebook, so he struck a deal based on Hoffman-LaRoche acquiring Genentech.
The acquisition never happened, but Microsoft bought 1.6% of Facebook for about $250 million. The deal, which valued Facebook at $15 billion, stipulated that Facebook would have to notify Microsoft if it began to seriously consider a takeover offer from Google.
