Russian firm offers to invest in Facebook

WASHINGTON: A Russian Internet-investment group has offered to invest 200 million dollars in Facebook Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said it was unclear whether Facebook had responded to or decided to accept the offer from Digital Sky Technologies.

The offer comes as the social-networking company has been talking to a range of venture-capital and private-equity firms about raising more money to help fuel its growth, the report said.

One source familiar with the matter said the DST proposal is the latest in a string of funding offers Facebook has received, according to The Journal.

Under the terms of DST's two-part offer, the Russian investment group would also offer to buy between 100 million and 150 million dollars in Facebook common stock at a 6.5 billion valuation, the paper said.

The amount, which would likely be used to buy up some Facebook employees' shares in the company, would depend on how many employees were interested in selling their shares, The Journal pointed out.