Facebook reportedly gets $38M boost from VC firm

Computerworld - Facebook's financials seem to be getting a boost this week.

Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported today that venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has taken a stake in the social networking company. According to the Journal, the firm is at least half way through the process of investing $38 million into Facebook, giving it a less than 1% hold on the popular social network.

Kleiner also has valued Facebook at $52 billion, according to the Journal. That's just over the $50 billion valuation that Goldman Sachs made in January.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm has made a name for itself in the high-tech world, investing in major names like Amazon.com, Sun Microsystems, AOL, Verisign and Google.

As for Facebook, its year has gotten off to a good start financially. Goldman Sachs has already invested $450 million in it, while Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment group, invested another $50 million.

And Facebook has been using some of its cash.

Just last week, the company purchased a 79-acre office campus to accommodate its growing business. Facebook bought the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, Calif. That property, which served as the corporate headquarters for Sun until the company was acquired by Oracle, covers 57 acres with nine buildings encompassing about 1 million square feet.

Executives also bought an adjacent 22-acre tract that is connected to the Sun campus by a tunnel. A Facebook spokeswoman said they're holding onto that property for possible future development.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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