Facebook Receives Investment From Digital Sky Technologies
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 27 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Passive Investment Includes Stake in Preferred Stock, Common Stock and
Support for Facebook's Continued Global Growth
Facebook today announced that Digital Sky Technologies (DST), one of the leading internet
investment groups globally with significant stakes in Eastern European and Russian internet
businesses, has made a $200 million investment in Facebook in exchange for preferred stock,
representing a 1.96 percent equity stake at a $10 billion valuation.
In addition, DST has indicated that it is planning to offer to purchase at least $100 million of
Facebook common stock from existing common stockholders that would facilitate liquidity for
current and former employees' vested shares in the company. The details of the plan are
expected to be announced to eligible participants during the summer. Consistent with
Facebook's practice with other recent investors, DST will not be represented on the Facebook
board or hold special observer rights.
"This investment demonstrates Facebook's ongoing success at creating a global network for
people to share and connect," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "We've worked hard to
bring more than 200 million people - 70 percent outside of the U.S. - onto Facebook to share
with friends, family and co-workers. A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out
because of the global perspective they bring - backed up by the impressive growth and financial
achievements of their internet investments. We're looking forward to working with the DST
team."
"Our investment experience in other regions reveals the tremendous value social networking
companies create as they redefine how people communicate and interact," said Yuri Milner,
chief executive of DST. "By every important metric - user growth and engagement,
technological innovation and financial performance - Facebook is on a similar trajectory, though
on a much more global scale. We're delighted to invest in Facebook, Mark and his
management team as they make the world more open and connected."
Based in London and Moscow, DST is a well-respected investor in a number of successful
internet companies, holding significant interests in Russia and Eastern Europe, such as Mail.ru,
Forticom and vKontakte. DST's main assets account for over 70 percent of all page views in
the Russian-speaking internet and its social networks are the market leaders in more than 13
countries, addressing a combined population of more than 350 million.
DST is run by its three partners who have complementary backgrounds in operations,
investments and finance: Yuri Milner, previously CEO of Mail.ru, the #1 Russian language
website; Gregory Finger, previously head of the Moscow office of NCH, a multi-billion dollar
hedge fund; and Alexander Tamas, previously co-head of internet and software coverage in
EMEA for the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. With its advanced
understanding of opportunities in technology and social media, DST is a good fit for Facebook
and an insightful partner that can help unlock additional growth opportunities.
Facebook is holding a teleconference for the media today at 9:45 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
From the U.S., participants should dial (877) 809-9539. Participants outside the U.S. should
dial (706) 679-8713. Please reference conference identification number 11871648 to join the
call. A replay of the teleconference will be available for one week. To access the replay, U.S.
participants should dial (800) 642-1687 and participants outside the U.S. should dial (706) 645-
9291. Please reference conference identification number 11871648.
About Facebook
Founded in February 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and
make the world more open and connected. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with
the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook is a privately held company and is
headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
About Digital Sky Technologies
DST was founded in 2005 and is the largest internet investor in the Russian-speaking and
Eastern European markets and one of the leading investment groups globally to exclusively
focus on internet and internet-related companies. DST is a privately held holding company
backed by leading Russian and Western financial institutions. DST has offices in Moscow and
Facebook(R) is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. Other names may be trademarks of
their respective owners.
SOURCE: Facebook
CONTACT: - United States
Larry Yu of Facebook
+1-650-543-7405
or Mike Buckley or Ashley Zandy, both of Brunswick Group
+1-415-293-8461
for Facebook
- Europe
Tim Burt or Ekaterina Alferova, both of Brunswick Group
+44 20 7404 5959
for Facebook
- Russia
Leonid Solovyev
+7 495 795 06 23
- Europe
James Melville-Ross or Matt Dixon
+44 20 7831 3113
- United States
Sage Baker
+1-415-293-4430
all of Financial Dynamics, for Digital Sky Technologies
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