• Business Insider, Wednesday, January 5, 2011 2:45 PM

Goldman Sachs, which just invested $450 million in Facebook, claims that the social net now has north of 600 million active users. Goldman, which is in the process of offering clients $1.5 billion worth of Facebook's common stock, has every reason to inflate the network's numbers, but the estimate sounds about right. Facebook said it crossed the 500 million monthly active user threshold this past July, and its official stats page says there are "more than 500 million active users" on the site.

"Now we know there are at least 100 million more," notes Business Insider. "It's likely that there are more than that, even." Familiar with Facebook's taste for the dramatic, Business Insider predicts that the company will wait until it hits one billion users before making any additional usership announcements. Meanwhile, the tech blog believes that Goldman's offering will result in the SEC forcing Facebook to go public.

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