Microsoft News Tracker

Among the unanswered questions surrounding yesterday’s Microsoft-Facebook deal was whether there were any other investors besides Microsoft in this round of financing. Now rumors are circulating that two hedge funds also chipped in for an additional $500 million.

The early (and possibly incorrect) presumption is that the hedge funds are each getting an equity share equivalent to Microsoft’s %1.6, but of course they aren’t getting any of the ad business. That in turn raises another unanswered question: what kind of advertising revenue share did Microsoft give Facebook? Both parties are taking pains to maintain the fiction of two separate Microsoft-Facebook deals in order to preserve the pristine nature of the $15 billion valuation, but one can’t help but wonder how much Microsoft really paid in total to play with Facebook.

Update 11/1: Facebook board member and investor Jim Breyer says this rumor is incorrect.

The long series of rumors finally came true today as Microsoft won the bidding to acquire a small equity interest in the Facebook social networking site and got the rights to foreign ad sales:

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s recent characterization of the Facebook social networking site as “faddish” apparently isn’t keeping him from reaching for his wallet in what is rumored to be a bidding battle with Google for a small but expensive piece of the fad.

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Apple announced stellar quarterly results yesterday that exceeded Wall Street estimates and were rewarded by the market with a price jump that lead to a market cap that now exceeds that of IBM. However, a key point is that Apple’s gains are squarely in areas of Microsoft strength or Microsoft aspirations. From the earnings press release:

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Turbolinux is the latest Linux distributor to sign up for Microsoft’s “intellectual property assurance”:

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