The sovereign wealth fund of China is reportedly trying to buy a stake in social networking website Facebook, Business Insider reports.
An anonymous source who had bought shares from former employees of the company told business site Business Insider that China is positioning itself to buy “a huge chunk” of Facebook. According to the website, Beijing has approached the source to see if he could get a stake large enough “to matter.”
In a related news, Citibank is reported to be trying to acquire £740 million ($1.2 billion) worth of stocks for two different wealth funds, one from China and one from the Middle East. It was also reported that a third source confirms that China is being represented by Citibank.
There is no need to be alarmed by this, though. It is said that by having a billion-dollar investment, the holder will not have much influence in a website that is worth a hundred billion dollars when it goes public. If Beijing is to be allowed to buy a part of Facebook, they will be acquiring non-voting stocks.
Currently, Facebook is not allowed in China, though similar sites like Lian Pu and Renren have sprung up.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have expressed their desire to bring the world’s most popular social networking site to China. He visited the country last December and will come back again in September to push for the country’s approval of Facebook.
Will Facebook shareholders sell their stocks to China? And if so, will the acquisition bring the site to the country?
via: IT Pro Portal
