- Speculation about Facebook‘s finances has once again been swirling, but chief executive Mark Zuckerberg at least provided a bit of clarity. Over the weekend VentureBeat said Facebook was about to close a $150m round to buy out shares from hundreds of employees. Then TechCrunch chimed in with a report that the company turned down a $200m term sheet that valued the company at $8bn because the investors wanted a board seat. Facebook is notoriously tight-lipped, but today Mr Zuckerberg said that his company is in no immediate need of capital, and that he does hope to take Facebook public, but not for a couple of years.
- Could the worst be over? Hewlett-Packard said that stronger than expected Chinese and US consumer markets helped it beat Wall Street profit projections for the second quarter, and the world’s leading personal computer company by revenue struck a note of cautious optimism on the economy as a whole.
- Germany’s Daimler has bought a near 10 per cent stake in Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley producer of electric roadsters, the companies said yesterday. The deal marks a further bet on battery-powered cars by the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicles and a vote of confidence in Tesla. The electric car pioneer has struggled to raise funds and realise expansion plans during the credit crunch.
