Sources tell TechCrunch that Facebook turned down a new $200 million round of venture funding that would value the company at $8 billion. The blog also claims that the social networking giant has also
received another term sheet valuing it at $6 billion. According to the sources, Facebook declined the $8 billion term sheet because it came with the requirement of a board of director's seat.
Michael Arrington notes that board of director's seats have been a touchy subject in the past for Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has three common stock board seats; one he holds, one that
is empty and one that is held by Marc Andreessen. Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Jim Breyer of Accel Partners hold the two preferred stock board seats. "Zuckerberg seems to be quite serious about
retaining control over the board of directors," says Arrington.
Investors are also now being told that Facebook expects $550 million in revenue in 2009, which is well above previous
estimates. Company execs report that the social networking giant rang in about $280 million in 2008. "That's quite a jump in revenue," says Arrington. "We've heard that things are going swimmingly at
Facebook on the revenue front, but $550 million this year may still be quite a stretch. Or even perhaps unrealistic."
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