Those amazing vanishing Facebook investors.....

I love this passage in TechCrunch about those supposed other investors in Facebook:

Then last night, I was at a dinner with Jim Breyer, the Accel venture capitalist who sits on Facebook’s board of directors (along with Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel)....

....I asked Breyer point blank about the second ghost tranche. And he told us point blank:”Those reports last week were 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.

Hmmmm...they weren't denied at the time (nor officially even now) - and what I read above doesn't exactly sound like a denial - more a resetting of expectations.

A scurrilous thought occurs.......could it be that the MSFT 1.6% is not actually paid for by that whole $240m, and thus one those mythical (yet not ruled out) hedge funds were not prepared to pony up for a $15bn valuation?

No doubt the next $50 - 200m tranche will be from just the right strategic investor (ie someone capable of doing a complex synergisitic deal like MSFT, that gives a higher headline number than the actual stock price paid) - as thats probably the only way they will keep the $15bn+ valuation story rolling in the short term