As an indication of just how popular social networking is becoming--and how critical it appears to be to the future of giant technology companies--Yahoo is reportedly willing to pay close to $1
billion for Facebook. People familiar with the matter say Facebook has also held acquisition talks with Microsoft and Viacom over the past year. Two and a half years ago, the Web site was a college
project run by an undergraduate. Today, it has nearly 9 million monthly U.S. visitors. Users spend an average of more than one hour a month on the site--a long time by Internet standards, and more
than double what they spent a year earlier. Based on online ad sales, Facebook will likely soon top $100 million in annual revenue, sources say. That is a level now considered the minimum for a
high-technology initial public offering in today's difficult Wall Street environment for small-stock offerings. The company's 22-year-old founder and chief executive, Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg,
declines to comment on talks.
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