Jim Breyer: Extra $500 Million Round For Facebook A "Total Fiction"
He didn’t rule out raising more money from hedge funds, but said nothing has been signed and that it would more likely be in the range of $50 million to $200 million. One thing is for sure, Facebook does not need any more cash. it would only raise more money if it found the right strategic investor. (Incidentally, Accel has invested $12.7 million in Facebook for an 11 percent stake now worth $1.65 billion, and Breyer personally owns one percent of Facebook). Does Facebook have IPO plans? “We won’t go public before 2009,” Breyer told us.
I also asked him about OpenSocial. He confirmed that Google had not reached out to Facebook: “I didn’t get the e-mail.” And when I suggested that it might be in Facebook’s interest to join OpenSocial at some point, he didn’t disagree. “Nobody’s going to beat us because they are more open,” he said.
The evening wound down, and Russell Simmons, another investor in the Global Grind who was also there, said, “I’m going home to watch my bootleg copy of American Gangster.” Kafka and I were not invited to come along.